Unwanted
by FallingIllusion
Summary: -update: Will be continuing/completing the story in the near future- Naruto finds himself talking to a girl he has only met in his latest dream! She seems ready for the chuunin exams, too. Could she pose a threat? Or maybe she is a friend.
1. Chapter 1

No, I don't own Naruto. It's my favorite show, but others come really close behind. This is my second story and it took me a while to come up with the name of the story, but I think that's good. Anyway, here's chapter 1.

--

Unwanted

Chapter 1 – Akira Katayanagi

--

Naruto popped his chopsticks apart. He loved it when Iruka took him for ramen at the Ichiraku Ramen Shop. Iruka only took him when he did well in something involving his training. So, if Iruka had brought him here that meant he did something well? He couldn't figure out what.

"Naruto," Iruka said finally and Naruto looked up from his bowl of pork-flavored ramen at his sensei. "I don't know if I told you before, but I'm proud of you."

"Why are you telling me now? Have I done well in training?" he asked. Iruka waited a moment to speak.

"Of course, Naruto, you always do well at training, but that isn't why I brought you here this time." Naruto looked curiously at his sensei.

"Then why did you?" he was very confused. Iruka knew how much Naruto could eat, and would only take him for a treat…what did he mean?

"It's nothing, Naruto. I just felt like treating you, that's all." He smiled down at the blonde. Naruto looked at his headband, which lay on the counter beside him. Iruka had given it to him when he became a genin. Iruka meant so much to him.

--

"Thank you for the ramen, Iruka-sensei." Naruto thanked Iruka as his sensei paid the bill.

"Sure, Naruto," Iruka smiled. _"13,000 yen, this boy sure eats a lot."_

--

Naruto gazed up at the stars, then fumbled for his keys. He unlocked his apartment door and went in, locking it behind him. He placed a bag on the table; it contained 4 instant ramen cans and a carton of milk. He walked into his bedroom and looked at a picture of Iruka and himself that sat on a table beside his bed. Another picture stood beside it, a picture of squad 7; his team.

He went back and put his ramen and the milk away, then got ready for bed.

He lay in his bed for a while before he went to sleep. He though about what it would be like if he didn't have Iruka. He shook his head, not wanting to think about it anymore. Soon he fell asleep.

--

"Naruto," a voice called him. He opened his eyes, and found he way floating in empty darkness. "Naruto." The voice repeated.

There was no floor, no walls and no ceiling, only black void, he felt empty when he thought of Iruka, and wondered why. "Naruto!" the voice was getting louder, and more stressed. He tried to answer, but he found he had no voice.

The voice that called was a voice of a girl. "I'm going to die, help me, Naruto!" he was shocked as he suddenly found himself standing at the edge of a cliff. He watched himself run to the cliff and take hold of someone's hand that held the edge.

"It's alright now! I'll pull you up!" He watched himself lose grip, and the person fell down the cliff. He couldn't help, he couldn't even move. But he watched himself fall backwards and look blankly at the cliff.

--

Sweat poured down his face as he awoke. _"Who was that?" _he thought. "The girl that was calling me fell to her death, because I couldn't help her? It was only a dream, but still, who was that?"

He got up, as he saw a stream of sunlight fall onto his blankets. He changed, but took longer because he though of his dream, and the girl. He hadn't got to see her face. He zippered up his jacket and went to the other room. He made the instant ramen and ate it slowly, and drank some milk, and then he left.

He walked blindly along; it was a day that Kakashi had given them off, so he didn't have to meet with his team today. He found himself wandering to the edge of Konoha, and he jumped the wall and walked though the thick forest he liked to go to when he thought about things.

Iruka came many times to his mind, but he thought mostly about the girl's face, thinking of how it might look. As he reached his thinking place, he bent down and went though a thicket to a small opening. A small stream of crystal clear water flowed though the center of the grassy opening, and many small white flowers were scattered everywhere. He laid down against a tree and looked up towards the treetops, where the light sparkled down and hit his face. Not much light got into there.

He leaned over and dipped up some water with his hands and drank it, then looked at his reflection in the water, but it wasn't very clear, because the water was flowing. He leaned back against the tree again and fell asleep.

--

When he opened his eyes, it was dark. Many small fireflies danced around in the air. Naruto shook his head, waking himself up. He moved his right hand to the side, and jumped as he felt something warm. It was round and soft, but he couldn't see. In a moment his eyes were adjusted to the dark, and he quickly pulled his hand away and started to blush. A girl was lying beside him.

"_What is she doing here? And who is she?" _he looked at where he had mistakenly put his hand, and blushed more then looked up her neck to her face. Her skin was almost pure white, and she had very light blonde hair, also close to being white. She wore a black robe that went down to her feet, and she wore black shoes. He looked at her lips, they were a light shade of pink, and they were slightly parted. _"She's so…beautiful."_ He thought.

Suddenly her eyes opened, and she sat up. Naruto jerked backwards, and put his left arm in front of him. She blinked then looked up at him. Her eyes were a dull grayish-blue, and held no emotion I them.

"Who are you?" he asked after a moment.

"My name is Katayanagi, Akira Katayanagi." She replied.

"_That voice, it's the same from my dream!" _he thought. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Nice you meet you, Katya."

Suddenly she leaned over and pressed her lips against his. His eyes opened wide, almost so wide that it was humanly impossible. A moment later she pulled away, and he started to blush. "It's nice to meet you too, Naruto." She smiled, finding what he had said funny.

"What's so funny?" demanded Naruto.

"It's nothing," replied Katayanagi. "But you _can _call me Katya if you want. I haven't been called that for a long time."

"Oh ok. I called you that because I'm not sure if I could pronounce your full name, sorry." He smiled, and she smiled back.

"That's fine, it doesn't matter." She leaned over again and kissed his cheek, making him blush even more. "I look forward to tomorrow."

"Why? What's tomorrow?" he inquired.

"The chuunin exams."

--

Well, it is my second story (as I said) but I'd like reviews anyway. I also need some ideas, ideas are helpful…but I will update soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Uh, yeah I haven't read/watched what happens after the prelims of the chuunin exam in the show, so I don't know what the realionship between Naruto/Sasuke and Gaara gets to be, so just pretend that never happened! (I mean like Gaara lost against Lee or something, and they had to cancel their plot to take over Konoha) Okidokie?**

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Unwanted

Chapter 2 – The Chuunin Exams

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"The chuunin exams?" Naruto asked then remembered the other day.

_--_

"_Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura," Kakashi had said, "The chuunin exams are in a week, the day before I will give you a day off to either rest or work on what you think you need to. But in the next six days, expect you legs and arms to fall off, at least."_

_--_

"Oh yeah." He said to himself. "So, what village are you from?" Katya's eyes turned to the ground, and she didn't respond. "Oh, sorry, you don't have to answer."

"No," she looked up at him, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that…"

"No," he interrupted. "It's ok, I understand. You don't have to tell me if you don't want." His mind wandered to Iruka again. _"Why is Iruka-sensei always coming into my head lately?" _

"Did you know," Katya said suddenly, "What if someone is going to die, one of their closest friends or family members always thinks of them? It was a song sung in my village."

"Really?" he thought of Iruka again. _"Is Iruka-sensei going to die?"_

"Is something wrong?" Katya looked at his eyes which traveled to the ground.

"What? Oh, no, nothing." He mused over the thought again and again over the time that they sat talking.

--

"It's the day of the chuunin exams, guys," Kakashi pointed out bluntly as he appeared where it was arranged they would meet an hour late, "I hope that day I gave you off helped."

"It sure did, sensei!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yeah, much." Sasuke agreed.

"_If sensei hadn't given us the day off, then I wouldn't have met Katya." _He thought.

Kakashi leaned over so that he was right in front of Naruto. "Is something wrong? No jumping up and down yelling, 'Chuunin exams! Chuunin exams!'? That's not like you, Naruto."

"Oh, I was just thinking, sensei, sorry." He smiled.

"_Wow, Naruto **thinking**_? _Something has to be wrong…"_ The silver haired jounin thought as he looked strangely at the blonde. "Anyway," Kakashi said after a moment, "Let's go in, I already registered in advance."

"_Wow, Kakashi-sensei doing something in **advance**? Is sensei sick?" _Sakura thought as they followed the jounin into the building that they were going to have the first exam.

"I remember the last time when we had to do that last trick question, don't you, Sasuke?" she talked constantly about the last exam to Sasuke as they walked.

"…"

They waited at the desk as Kakashi talked to the person standing there, it seemed that Kakashi was having some technical difficulties.

Naruto felt someone tap on his shoulder, and he turned around.

"I'd like you to meet my teammates, Naruto." Katayanagi said as he turned to face her.

"Sure, do you want to meet mine first?" she nodded and Naruto got Sasuke and Sakura's attention, as Katya called her other teammates over.

"This is Sasuke and Sakura," he introduced them, "And this is…" he stopped suddenly wanting to say her full name but forgetting it.

"I'm Katayanagi," she smiled at Naruto, "And these are my teammates, Kaguya Ayame," she motioned to a fairly tall girl with fairly short dark brown hair and hazelnut brown eyes. She wore a black outfit and had a mist village headband tied around her neck, "and this is Yakushi Cagalli." She motioned to the other girl who was taller then the other two but a little, and had her silver hair tied up into a ponytail. She had blue eyes and also wore completely black, with a sand village headband tied around her waist. "And guys, this is Naruto."

"Nice to meet you." Sakura said politely.

"Yeah, good to meet you." Sasuke agreed.

"Same here," Ayame replied.

"Hn," Cagalli said, "I guess."

"_Her mind must be elsewhere," _Sakura thought as she followed the silver haired girls eyes to a boy in the corner of the room. _"Ahhh…" _she thought as she eyed him, then he turned around and she got a shock. _"Him?"_

"Sakura?" Sasuke nudged her with his elbow.

"Oh, sorry, what?"

"I asked you if you have entered the chuunin exams before," Ayame asked again.

"Oh, yes, once." Sakura replied. "I tied with someone."

"_Iruka-sensei, I can't help thinking that you might die." _Naruto thought. _"Why did Katya have to say that?" _

"We have never entered the chuunin exams before," Katya said, "This is our first."

"I noticed," Sasuke changed the subject, "Cagalli and Ayame are from different villages, and I can't even see your headband, Katya."

"Yeah, we are all from different villages," Ayame said as she saw that Katya wasn't going to answer, and knew Cagalli wouldn't. "But Katya doesn't like to show where she's from."

"Oh, ok." Sasuke replied, wanting that information the most.

"Uh, sorry for the wait, guys," Kakashi turned around and got a shock from seeing the three others there, "Uh, we can go in now." He scratched the side of his head.

"This is Katya, Ayame and Cagalli," Sakura told their sensei, "And this is our sensei, Kakashi."

"Nice to meet you," the three of them said at once.

"Well," Katya took Naruto's hand, "Take this, it will give you good luck. Anyway, we have to go now. Bye." She took off with her friends.

Naruto looked at what she had placed in his hand, it was a gold locket.

--

**Well that's a chapter! Please review, and I need some ideas on what to do with the chuunin exams please! So please try to tell me before long!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is chapter 3! Thanks for the reviews, and I updated fast! Yay! ;)**

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Unwanted

Chapter 3 – The Chuunin Exams Begin

--

"Begin!" Anko said and everyone picked up their pencils and began to write.

"_These questions are easy compared to last time," _Sakura thought as she looked around to see who was there this time.

Ino and Chouji weren't there, because Shikamaru had become a chuunin last time. She saw Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Lee, Neji, Tenten, the three from the sand village, the three they had met in the lobby, and a whole bunch of other ninja from different villages.

"_These questions are hard!" _thought Naruto, _"They might even be harder than the last time! …'if your teammates are held by the enemy, and they threaten to kill them if you don't hand over what they want, you are completely out of chakra, what do you do? Explain why.' what kind of bassackwards questions are these? No duh, 'use a super powerful jutsu that takes up very little chakra and uses one or two hand signs, because kicking ass is more fun!' There, done!"_

"_If Naruto fails, I'll have to kill him," _thought Sasuke as he looked at the blond who sat in front of him. _"Hmm…" _Sasuke read the same question Naruto just did. _"Easy, 'let your teammates die, there is nothing more important than the goal'."_

"_I wonder if Naruto will pass," _thought Sakura as she looked over at the other side of the room at him.She read the same question. _"That's easy, 'give them what they want if they promise to let you go, making sure you have a kunai/shuriken/senbon ready if they let you go and then try to kill you after, because lives are more important than the mission'."_

After half and hour was up, whether everyone was done or not, the papers were taken away and started to be graded in front of everyone by six jounin. They waited until every page was marked then they were all handed back out, showing if they failed or not.

Sasuke smiled. _"Obviously."_ He thought. There was a mark in red pen at the top right of the paper. It said 87. He passed.

Sakura smiled so that her teeth showed. The paper read 90. She passed.

Naruto slowly turned over the paper, and sighed as he looked at it. The paper said 51. He just passed. 50 was a pass, and 49 was a fail. He just made it. _"Yeeesss! Sasuke and Sakura can't say I didn't pass and kick my ass because of it! Man I rock, dude!"_

They gathered outside, as Anko again explained the Forest of Death. She was doing all of the exams, the 1st to the 3rd. She said it was the same, you had to get the heaven and the earth scroll to pass _and _get to the tower and you only have 5 days. Naruto looked around. _"Where's Katya? Did one on her team fail? That would mean she fails too…" _he thought as he started to looked around more intensely.

Soon he spotted her. Her team was already signing the forms so that they wouldn't get in shit if someone dies. Sasuke came back with theirs. They all signed them, and then went to get their scroll.

"_Earth," _thought Naruto as it was handed to Sasuke. _"That's what we got last time. I wonder what Katya got." _

As last time, they all waited by a large gait until they were let in. They started out fast when it was opened, but soon stopped to make a plan.

"What did you answer on the 5th question, Naruto?" Sasuke asked as they stopped by a stream of water.

"I don't remember what the fifth was!" he replied then Sasuke reminded him.

"Oh that one! I said, 'use a super powerful jutsu that uses little chakra and only needs one or two hand signs'. Why?" he replied with a smile.

"Wrong," Sasuke said and turned to Sakura. "You?"

"To give them what they want so that your teammates lives are saved." She replied knowing her answer was right."

"Also wrong." He said.

"Why?" Naruto practically yelled. "What did you say, smart ass?"

"Naruto, what's wrong with yours is _no _'super powerful' jutsu uses almost no chakra." He turned to Sakura. "And what's wrong with your is, what if they wanted crucial info that if someone other than Konoha had it, Kanoha and all of it's people would be killed?"

"…" Sakura and Naruto both remained silent.

"But…" Naruto said suddenly.

"No buts." Sasuke interrupted. "What I'm trying to say is, if two of us are caught, it is likely that there will be a third to their team which means someone with empty hands, or not full with the other two of us. If two of us are caught remember this, _'nothing is more important than the mission._"

"But what about you, Sasuke!" Sakura's voice was loud. "I would never let you die, Sasuke, if I had a chance to save you!"

"Sakura," he tried to stop her from talking.

"I would never! I would rather…"

"Sakura!" he interrupted her then said quietly. "We're being watched."

--

**Sorry for the cliffy:) I really should make the chapters longer, I think. If any of you think they are too short, just tell me. But please review, tanx!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is the continuation of the cliffy! …Chapter 4…yay! ;) And it's a long one! This is my 3rd update today! Man am I proud of myself, the 3rd update…yeah that won't last for long…**

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Unwanted

Chapter 4 – The Mist Village Ninja

--

They all continued their conversation, so that the people watching them didn't catch onto them knowing they were there. As soon as Sasuke pinpointed their position, he motioned to Sakura and Naruto, and they attacked.

Their enemies were easily beaten, but they unfortunately had an earth scroll, not a heaven, like they needed.

"That sucks," Naruto commented as they fried the fish over the campfire, "Our first win and they have the same scroll as us!" After a while Naruto commented, "This is the same place that we fried our fish last time, guys. And Kabuto-san said that everyone would be able to smell the smoke…so why are we cooking, Sasuke?"

"There is a slight wind, and it's blowing north," Sasuke replied, "north is the way of the tower from here, but that isn't what I'm trying to get at. We will wait here and set a trap, so that anybody who comes thinking they will be ambushing someone will actually be caught in our trap."

"Oh…" Naruto mumbled for a moment, "Does that mean we'll have to eat fast?" Sasuke nodded in slight annoyance.

After they were done their fish, they scouted around the area to see if anyone had already got there, there wasn't anybody. They set their trap, and from a place that they could still see the burning fire and all around it, they waited.

It took about 15 minutes until someone came. Two mist village ninja, as far as they could see.

"The third is hiding," said Sakura quietly, "You two go in, I'll look for the third." Sasuke agreed and Sakura went off to find the third ninja.

Naruto jumped down from the bushes and said arrogantly, "What scroll do you have? We might let you go if it's the one we want!"

"_Idiot." _Thought Sasuke as he jumped down and joined Naruto. "You heard him, what scroll do you possess?"

"You tell us first," one of the ninja replied, "I think we have the advantage here." The ninja scouted around the area, looking for Sakura. _"I don't see their third teammate, he must be injured or something."_

"We demanded first!" Naruto went childish with his words.

"Hand over the scroll and you might live!" Sasuke said once more. _"I want to wait to see what kinds of jutsu they use before I attack…"_

"If you won't talk," Naruto raised his fist, "then I'll beat the crap out of you first!" He charged towards the one that talked, then suddenly stopped as they heard a scream. "Sakura!"

Naruto looked back at the smiling ninja. "Guess your little trap didn't work out so well." Turning his back he fled past Sasuke to where the scream was heard. "I'm going after Sakura," he said as he got to Sasuke, "you stay and get their scroll!"

He jumped through the bushes and ran as fast as he could. Soon he found Sakura; she was lying on the ground, bleeding and unconscious. "Sakura!" he bent down and felt her pulse. There was none.

He felt an overwhelming pain in his chest. Sakura is dead? No, it couldn't be. She is way too strong to die, and so early too. "Sakura…"

"Naruto!" Sasuke came running up behind him. "It's genjutsu! Get back!"

But it was too late. The trap was sprung, and Naruto was caught in a way above Sasuke's head.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?" he called down.

"They were easy to beat!" he replied, "But they left their scroll! It's heaven!" he showed Naruto.

"Great!" he replied. "But where is Sakura?"

"Looking for her?" they heard a voice come from the bushes, then a tall man walked out of them, holding Sakura unconscious from her neck. "She just happened to run into me, so I thought she wanted to die. She's still alive, mind you." He turned to Sasuke. "Now I want my teams scroll back now."

"You aren't gonna get it!" he replied strongly.

Naruto reached for a kunai and cut himself loose.

"Here is my deal," the ninja said. He was dressed in grey and red, and wore a mist headband and a mask covered his face. "Give me the scroll, and I'll give you back this fine young lady."

"_Oh no," _thought Sasuke, _"This is exactly what I didn't want to happen! Unlike last time, if at least two of your team gets though, you pass, but will Naruto really let Sakura die so we can keep the scroll? It's only the second day…"_

"Alright," Naruto said, "We'll give you the scroll." He turned to Sasuke, who smiled.

"_Good ol' Naruto!"_

Sasuke handed the scroll to Naruto, who walked towards the man and handed it out to him.

The man reached out to take it, but Naruto ducked and a flaming ball was coming straight towards him. In panic, he let go of Sakura and jumped to safety. Naruto caught her and moved also.

"_Damn," _the ninja thought, "Fine! You win, for now, but don't think you've seen the last of me!" he disappeared into the bushes. Naruto stood up to follow him.

"Leave it, Naruto." Sasuke said. Naruto looked at Sakura. She wasn't visibly injured anywhere, just unconscious.

They made their way slowly to the tower, because Sakura was still unconscious, and got there on the forth day. She was awake by then, and told them that the ninja that threatened to kill her was nice. They didn't believe her until she told them that she saw him, and he had a pet, a giant dog, that's why she screamed. He talked with her, and gave her some of his food, but suddenly he said 'sorry' and knocked her out.

"He was treating you nicely so that you wouldn't attack," remarked Sasuke, "and so that he could use as bait."

"Not true!" she argued. "His eyes were kind, I could tell! I know these things, Sasuke!"

"Well, maybe so." He replied. "But then don't expect to see him again, kind people are always the first to go." He walked a few steps away to drive his point in.

"Sakura," Naruto looked at her, "you said you saw his eyes?"

"Yes, his whole face, why?" she answered.

"Because," he replied, "he was wearing a mask when he confronted us." He smiled. "It's no biggy! Just observing, that's all!"

Soon they were taken to where the 3rd exam was being held. Anko, the proctor, looked strangely at all of the ninja that stood before her, all the ones that passed up until now.

"Well," she said finally, "This is going to be an interesting one, that's for sure."

--

**I need some ideas of what I should do after the chuunin exams, I have a rough idea, but more would really help! So please review, thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wahoo! 4th update today! Wow I'm on a role! Talk about speeding though the chapters, eh? I hope this lasts for a while, anyway.**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 5 – The First Three Prelim Matches

--

"Alright!" Anko announced. "Let's start the prelims of the third exam of the chuunin exams!"

"_Prelims…again?" _thought Lee as he looked around to see how many were there, he was in the front so he couldn't see. He counted, there were 18 ninja there. _"Wow, 18? That's as many as last time, if I remember right."_

As Anko explained the preliminary fights, Naruto was looking for Katya. _"Did she pass? I hope so!" _he looked anxiously around for her, then his eyes fell onto her long hair. _"Yes, she passed!" _his smile disappeared. _"Why am I so happy that she passed? She's not my teammate; she's my enemy! Is it because she was in my dream, or because she was sleeping beside me? I don't know why but I think I…"_

"Alright then," Anko said finally, "Everyone please move up to the balconies around the arena so we can begin the first match!" Everyone slowly moved up the stairs, then the match was called. It was done the same way, with the screen randomly choosing the matches.

The first match: Hyuuga Neji vs. Kankuro

"I'm up right off the bat, eh?" said Kankuro as he jumped off and landed on the stone below.

"Alright," said Neji, "This shouldn't be too hard." He joined Kankuro at the arena, and as soon as Anko told them to start, they were ready.

Neji waited for Kankuro to strike, remembering that inside the thing on his back was a doll that he controlled with his chakra. _"If I can get him to bring that out, I can make it useless by draining the chakra from it."_

"_This guy," _thought Kankuro, _"He's a Hyuuga, and his gentle fist attack can either put charka into me, or take it out, so I should probably just stay far away. He is obviously waiting for me to attack…"_

Kankuro smiled in annoyance as he unraveled the crow from its 'cage'. "Go!" Kankuro yelled and the crow went flying towards Neji.

"There!" he hit the crow directly on its forehead and chest, and remained there until the chakra strings that connected Kankuro's fingers and the crow where gone. Crow fell limply to the floor. "What are you going to do now?"

"_What? I never thought that he could take chakra out of crow…damn it!" _he clenched his teeth together_. "I can't go in and attack with taijutsu, that would get me killed…"_

Kankuro raised his hand. "I give, proctor."

"Kankuro has forfeit! Hyuuga Neji is the winner and will advance to the finals!" Anko announced.

They both walked back to stand with their team.

The second match was going to be called up in a matter of moments. Who would it be?

The second match: Rock Lee vs. Haruno Sakura.

"S-Sakura?" Lee turned to face the pink haired genin. _"I can't fight Sakura, anyone but Sakura!"_

Sakura turned to face Lee. "I won't give up. I promised myself that when I walked into the forest. I _will _fight you, Lee, and you will fight back or lose!"

They both walked to the arena. Lee seemed very unsure about it, whereas Sakura seemed fully prepared.

"_I know if Lee tries to use those 'gates' like he did the last time," _thought Sakura, _"then I'm surely done. But if not…maybe he'll take it easy on me and won't have to use them…no! I want him to use them so I can test my ability! …Or is that selfish? Lee might get hurt badly again…"_

"Begin the second match!" declared Anko.

Both Sakura and Lee took up their stances, and Sakura attacked first. She went in with taijutsu.

"_Bad move, Sakura." _Thought Guy. _"Lee is an expert in taijutsu, you'll never be able to beat him that way."_

She continued to push him back, blocking each of his counters.

"_He's not trying!" _thought Sakura in annoyance.

"_I can't fight you Sakura," _thought Lee, _"I have to think of a way to win but not hurt her."_

"_Now!" _she thought as she made a few hand signs.

"_Substitution?" _thought Lee. _"But I'm not even attacking…wait, she just did another sign? What jutsu could that be?"_

She started again to attack with taijutsu again.

"What jutsu was that, Kakashi?" Guy asked.

"Wait and see, Guy, wait and see." Kakashi replied. _"Sakura is very good with that jutsu, but she never uses it, she said she was saving it…but she didn't know she was going to be against Lee-san…what could she have meant?"_

Lee countered, but a log appeared where Sakura was just standing. _"A substitution? But that can't be right…she did those hand signs long ago, could it be a lasting substitution? I've never heard of one, but…"_

"There!" both fists were coming down to the back of Lee's head.

"Leaf Whirlwind!" a gust of air pushed her back to the wall, and she fell to the floor.

"_He's always one step ahead…" she thought. "I should have watched my strength and chakra level better…I'm beat…I'm worn out…"_

Her eyes closed slowly. Lee turned around to see Sakura unconscious on the floor. "Sakura!" he ran to her side. "Maybe she hit her head on the wall? I shouldn't have used my leaf whirlwind…damn."

Kakashi appeared beside him.

"It's alright, Lee," he said, "she was worn out. It was her own fault she lost. She was careless."

He stood up and let Kakashi carry her back to the balcony and he went back to his team.

"The third match is…" Anko waited for the names to come up on the screen. "Tenten vs. Temari."

"Again?" said Tenten and Temari at the same time as the names appeared.

Temari smiled, and Tenten looked across at her as she went down to the arena. "I'll win this time, Lee! Just you watch me, ok?"

"Oh yeah!" Lee agreed. "You go, Tenten! You can do this!"

Tenten joined Temari in the arena.

"Begin!" Anko called and they readied for battle.

--

**Oh yeah! (I still can't believe this is my 4th update TODAY!) Anyway, please review and I _should _update soon, (I haven't failed in that aspect yet!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**I looked for this story and finally found it (after a while)…and there are so many stories called 'unwanted' and such. I never thought that my story name is the same as lots of others! Great minds think alike, I guess. But I saw how short three pages in Microsoft Word can be, so I'll try to make the chapters longer now:)**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 6 – The Mist Ninja's Fight

--

As last time, it was over in a flash, Temari being the victor.

"Alright!" announced Anko as the next two names appeared on the screen. "The next match will be between Inuzuka Kiba and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Alright Sasuke!" Sakura cheered as he left the balcony. "You can do it! Beat the pants off that mutt!"

"_Man," _thought Naruto, _"I wouldn't want to see that…" _Naruto yelled, "Sasuke! Beat 'em up, just try to leave his pants on, ok?"

"Sure thing, Naruto." He looked back at the blonde. "I wouldn't want to see what's under _there!_"

"Hey!" snapped Inuzuka. "What's that supposed to mean??"

"It means," Sasuke replied. "I don't like you."

Kiba growled, then Anko told them to begin.

"You'll die for that!" Kiba charged after motioning to his dog, Akamaru. Sasuke dodged his attacks, but barely. "Now!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru was behind Sasuke, and Kiba had just attacked. He was off balance and the small dog was coming closer. It bit him.

The dog hung from his arm, its teeth digging deep into his flesh.

"Die!" Kiba kicked his gut, making him fall over in pain. _"I can't lose…not to the person who Naruto beat last time…unfortunately I don't know how he did it…"_

His elbows touched the ground, the dog still holding tight. _"I won't lose…"_

"_I won't lose…"_

"You're the one who's going to die!" Sasuke called out, a sudden burst of chakra ran through his veins, but his curse mark still remained calm. With rocket speed he slammed his fist into the bottom of Kiba's jaw, making him fly backwards. "Fire style: Fire ball jutsu!" many balls of flames emerged from Sasuke's hand, flying towards the falling shinobi. It was the end…or was it?

"_I'm not going to lose…" _Sasuke thought. _"If I lose to him, there is NO WAY I will be able to win against _him_…" _The fireballs missed, because Kiba touched the ground first and he moved out of the way. Akamaru returned to Kiba's side.

"_Kiba-kun…" _Hinata thought as she watched him dodge the fireballs. _"Are you going to lose, or come out on top?"_

Kiba planned his next move.

Sasuke planned his next move.

"_Will the Uchiha take the win?" _she thought. _"Or will you pull though?"_

They both grinned.

"_Whatever the outcome…" _she closed her eyes.

They charged.

"…_Please don't get hurt!"_

--

"Katya," Cagalli turned to her teammate. "Should I now?"

"Yes," replied Katya, "Please go now. And…"

"What is it?" asked Cagalli.

"I hope you don't have to fight _him_."

"Thank you," Cagalli replied as she looked thankfully into Katya's eyes, "I hope you do not have to fight Naruto, either." Cagalli walked away.

--

"No!" Hinata said under her breath.

Kiba was thrown to the ground again and again, Sasuke's power, speed and stamina showing to be greater than Kiba's.

"Kiba is always so fast…" thought Hinata. "Why is he slowing down?"

Sure enough, the speedy shinobi was drastically slowing down.

"You're done." Sasuke pointed out as Kiba hit the floor yet again. He tried to get up, but his muscles failed him. Akamaru barked. Everything spun around him, growing darker and darker, until it went black.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata yelled out. _"Is he ok? I have to go see him!" _she jumped over the railing as Anko announced Sasuke as the winner. She ran to him and past Sasuke, their eyes met as she passed, but she didn't stop.

"Kiba are you ok?" she asked as the medics arrived. "He's out cold…"

"Please hurry," pressured Anko, "we need to start the next match."

As the medics carried Kiba out, Hinata and Sasuke returned to the balcony and the next match was called.

"Ayame vs. Kone!" Anko announced and they both went to the center.

"That guy!" Naruto exclaimed. "Kone, his outfit is the same as the Mist ninja we fought before."

"You're right," Sakura agreed, she had recovered from her fight with Lee. "Except for not wearing a mask, it's exactly the same."

"Begin!"

"Alright," smiled Kone, "a girl, eh? Perfect…Hey doll!"

"Hunh?" replied Ayame.

"After I beat you, wanna go to a nice, dark room?" he smiled.

"Maybe," she answered, "maybe when dinosaurs re-appear on the earth, I'll think about it."

"_Damn her smart ass…" _thought Kone. "Alright, let's get this underway!" He made hand signs, and he began to shoot water out of his palm, sort of like how Sasuke does his fire techniques. In moments the whole floor was filled with two feet of water, almost up to their knees.

Anko had fled to a dryer spot.

"These are…" Ayame's head faced the ground so that her bangs shadowed her eyes. She lifted her head. "These are my new shoes! Don't you have any respect?"

"Hey, look Naruto," Sakura pointed out, "When we met those girls before, they were wearing robes, weren't they?" Naruto nodded, noticing their change in clothing. "What great style! She must have been wearing that under her black robe!"

Ayame was now wearing pants and a short cut shirt. She had a sword thrown over her left hip and a chain around her neck, as well as another necklace which had three bones shaped like fangs on it. The biggest was in the middle, and the other two were smaller ones.

Ayame charged, filled with rage of her new ruined shoes. She punched towards his face, but Kone dodged easily. "If that is the extent of your power, then this match is over!" he turned his head around to see her, she smirked. "What?" she stabbed a kunai into his back. "So that was…your true aim…" he fell over into the deep water and started to sink.

"The winner is…" Anko started to announce.

"I'm…" Kone interrupted as his head surfaced.

"_He shouldn't still be conscious!" _Anko thought as she looked at the shaking body.

"I'm not done…" he finished.

"Well then," Ayame attacked again with a kunai attack.

"No!" Anko tried to stop her. "He's done!" But the multiple kunai hit anyway, spraying blood into the water.

He fell over again, this time not to get up.

"Ayame is the winner," Anko declared with a sigh, _"…what's with that girl? When he said he wasn't done she attacked instantly, not even waiting for me to announce that she had won, which she had. He couldn't have finished."_

Ayame went back to the stands.

"Cagalli is still gone?" Ayame asked Katya, as they stood together at a far corner of the balcony, away from everybody else.

"Yeah," Katya replied, "she should be back by now, though."

"Heh," Ayame smiled, "It's not like she got caught or anything."

"Yeah, I know." Replied Katya.

--

"The next match!" Anko said finally after the bloody water was cleaned from the arena and the body was taken away, Kone wasn't dead, but it was close. The names appeared on the screen. "Hyuuga Hinata vs. Ryuga!"

"Alright, Hinata." Shino supported her. "You can do it, got that?"

"Yeah," she replied, _"Kiba's not here, but Naruto is, so I think I can win!_

She looked up. _"Who is this Ryuga anyway?"_

--

Sakura's eyes opened wide, as did Naruto's and Sasuke's. Ryuga looked exactly like the mist village ninja that attacked them in the forest.

"Guys," Sakura pointed out, "That's him."

"I know," Naruto replied, "And if this guy is really good, though he didn't show it back in the forest of death, then Hinata might be in deeper than she thinks."

"Heh," Sasuke shrugged, "It's alright, now we'll know what kind of techniques he uses."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed, "I supposed so, huh?"

--

"Begin!" Anko stated.

Hinata took stance, but Ryuga stood static. Hinata slowly moved in, but the mist ninja didn't move. He suddenly smiled, and everybody blinked.

When their eyes reopened a millisecond later, they saw Hinata on the ground imbrued in her own blood, and the mist ninja was gone. Everybody looked towards where his teammates stood; he was back with them.

Anko gasped, "Uh…" she shook her head, "I guess Ryuga wins…"

Hinata was taken to the emergency room, and the floor was cleaned again.

--

"…" Ayame tapped her fingers on the railing.

"What is it, Ayame?" Katya asked. "Something's bothering you."

"…" Ayame sighed. "Cagalli isn't back yet, and there aren't many people left, her match might be next, for all we know."

"Yeah, you're right…" agreed Katya. "She should be back by now."

--

"The 7th match is…" The names once again appeared on the screen.

"Gaara vs. Cagalli."

--

**Uh so yeah, some of you might not have figured it out yet, probably because I didn't really give many hints but w.e. you'll know by next chapter WHICH should be done sooner than this one, I was just getting used to writing at least five pages in Microsoft Word before I double spaced the paragraphs. But I'm going to start on chap. 7 any time now!**

…**I hope…**


	7. Chapter 7

**Good, chapter 7. Thanks for the 'review', and I'm sorry if any of you think Sakura is to ehem, but that's her character, so that's how I thought I should keep her. Don't wanna go changing somebody's fav character, now do I? **

--

Unwanted

Chapter 7 – Self-Test

--

"Gaara vs. Cagalli."

"What!?" Ayame and Katya said in unison.

"Cagalli isn't back yet," Ayame said, "so what are we going to do so she doesn't lose by default?"

"I don't know," Katya replied, "but I should try something."

Katya appeared beside Anko.

"Excuse me," Katya got Anko's attention, "Cagalli, my teammate, left for a moment, so could you wait for about two minutes?"

"One moment." Replied Anko and she disappeared and reappeared beside the Hokage. (A/n: by the way Tsunade isthe Hokage, and the old one is retired, not dead)

She explained what Katya said to her, then reappeared beside Katya.

"Lady Hokage said that we can wait up to five minutes," replied Anko, "and if your friend isn't back by then, then she loses by default."

"Thank you." Katya answered without a smile, then went back to the balcony.

Gaara waited in the center of the arena for his opponent, though Anko said he could go back to the stands.

One minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

Three, then four minutes passed.

"Guys!" Cagalli entered. "Sorry I took so long…" her eyes traveled to the screen. "My match…against _him?_" she stared blankly at the screen, then her eyes moved to Gaara, who still stood in the middle of the arena, his eyes were also on her.

"_Gaara," _she thought, _"It's been a while, hasn't it?"_

She went to the arena so that she faced Gaara. "If you think I will, I won't." Cagalli said to Gaara. "I'm not going to give up."

"You're still mad," he said in his low, bloodcurdling voice, "aren't you?"

"…" she thought for a moment, "no, I stopped being mad at you a long time ago. How could I be mad at you?"

"…"

--

"Sakura!" Naruto pointed out this time. "That girl is wearing a different outfit then before, also!"

"Yeah, I saw!" she snapped. Cagalli was wearing pants and a short cut shirt, like Ayame, but she also wore two small black pouches around her waist, and a sword, also like Ayame. Around her neck was a necklace, a gold locket like the one Katya had given Naruto, he didn't say so, though.

--

"Begin!" Anko announced. They both stood there, waiting for the other to make the first move. They stood for a moment, then Cagalli opened her mouth to say something then closed it again, no words being said.

"What is it?" Gaara said teasingly. "Miss your brother?"

"Don't make fun of him!" she snapped back. "I don't want to fight you, that's the last thing I'd ever want to do!"

"Why?" he asked, "Are you scared?"

"No!" she replied, emotions of all kinds started to appear. _"Am I scared? I know what he can do and I have to fight him…but, brother, what about you? I have to fight Gaara to get stronger so I can bring you home…but…"_

"Oh," Gaara said sarcastically, "I don't want to fight you, either. I'd rather go and eat, or maybe play…or maybe I could go jump off of a cliff…that would be more fun."

"Shut up!" she yelled at him.

--

"Whoa," Naruto exclaimed, "I didn't know girls could yell so loud…"

"Wanna see how hard they can hit?" Sakura asked then turned back to face the arena. _"What's wrong with her? I wonder what her connection to that sand ninja is? She's a sand ninja too, maybe she has a crush on him?"_

--

"I don't want to remember!" said Cagalli, "but I do! Because…" she closed her eyes, _"Because you are a part of those memories…"_

"But," she said after a moment, "if the only way to bring my brother back is to defeat you, then so be it, I will win!"

"…"

She made many hand signs then blew out fire from her hand.

"_That's my jutsu," _thought Sasuke, _"Wait, no, it's different."_

The flames started to circle Gaara, so it made a ring of fire.

Gaara smirked, knowing the fire wouldn't hurt him.

The fire kept growing in size and more intense, until Anko had to move back again so she wouldn't get burned. It was moving closer into Gaara, slowly.

His sand went up all around him.

The fire started to move in and out, getting bigger then smaller then bigger again. Suddenly the ring of fire grew very small, so that it was 3 feet away from Gaara's sand wall in all directions. It turned blue.

--

"_What's with that?" _Sasuke thought, _"My attack goes straight, I can't control it, what kind of jutsu is that? And why did it suddenly turn blue? Maybe that means…"_

"Sasuke," said Sakura, "It's blue."

"I noticed."

"That means it's really hot, it's the hottest kind of fire," she said, "how did she do that?"

He shook his head.

--

"_My name is…" _thought Cagalli, _"My name is Yakushi Cagalli! I will win and get my brother back!"_

A giant explosion erupted in the middle of the arena, and smoke filled the giant room. It was so thick that nobody could see their hands in front of their faces. They heard Anko's voice, "Everybody stay calm! The smoke will be cleared in a matter of minutes!"

The brought in giant fans and blew away all of the smoke, but it was smelled in the air.

They looked to see the outcome, Gaara stood inside his wall of sand, the front of it was carved away, and Cagalli stood shaking, against the wall. Anko waited to see if she could continue, and she dropped to her knees.

"_I'm sorry…" _she thought, _"Gaara…brother…I failed, please forgive me, both of you…"_

She fell forwards.

"Gaara is the winner!" Anko announced and Cagalli was carried out on a stretcher. She didn't have any major injuries, but she was worn out.

"She did well," Ayame said after she was gone, "even though she lost, I think she learned something more important than the taste of victory."

"She doesn't know that taste, does she?" Katya asked and Ayame shrugged. _"I don't…"_

"Let's go see her," Ayame suggested, "maybe you can help."

"Sure."

"The 8th match," Anko announced, "Uzumaki Naruto vs. Akira Katayanagi!"

"…"

"Oooook…" Ayame said, "do you mind if I go to her?"

"I guess so." Katayanagi agreed. "I don't need support to win, anyway."

Ayame nodded.

--

"Katya?" he asked shocked. "Why her?"

"What' wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked. "Have to fight your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" he snapped back. _"…yet…"_

"It's alright, Naruto." Sakura smiled. "You don't have to hide it."

Naruto swallowed. His match was next, and he found himself thinking, what if Katya was an enemy? What if she wasn't a friend? He couldn't bear the thought, and he went to the arena.

--

**Muyeeehahahahahahahahaa!!! A cliffy, everybody! (hope you love it me for it!) Yeah, I like making cliffys, though I don't think I'm very good at them but w.e., so please R&R, and I'll update as soon as I can! And tell me who you like Sakura paired up with, because since she's on Naruto and Sasuke's team I should have someone for her. So yeah, please review!!!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the cliffy…I just noticed that I wrote both in one day and put them up at the same time it's not really a cliffy, huh? Oh well, whatever, Katya gets a little emotional in this chapter, and a line of her past is revealed!! Awesome eh? One whole line!**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 8 – 'You are the One'

--

They both looked in each other's eyes; they stood 10 feet away.

"I don't want to fight you." Naruto said after a moment.

"I don't want to hear it." Katya replied.

"But…"

"I said I don't want to hear it!" Naruto moved a step backwards. "We are here to fight, nothing else!"

"_Then why did she…" _he thought, _"Then why did she kiss me and give me that locket? She's lying…she had to be…"_

"Begin." Anko said with practically no enthusiasm.

"I'll kill you if you don't fight back," she said finally, "and I mean that, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Then why?" he shouted out. "Why did you lay beside me when I was asleep, then kiss me, and give me this locket? I can't even open it but that's not the point! You were so nice to me but now you treat me like shit! I've been treated like shit all my life and now I'm being treated like it again, by the person I _thought_ I could trust!"

He took a deep breath, "I know I haven't known you long and therefore shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, but I feel like you are something more than just someone else to treat me like nothing! I dreamt about you _before _I met you! I feel that we have a connection, why can't you accept that I'm not just a nobody? Why?"

"I thought you were different…" he lowered his voice, "I thought you would understand, but I guess not…"

"I do."

"What?"

"I do understand," she replied, "I understand how you feel, knowing you're unwanted, that the world doesn't want you. I know the feeling, my whole team knows the feeling. They, as well as me, have never been wanted by anyone but each other, and that was only recently that I met them."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" he asked.

"…"

"Well?"

"Are we going to stand around talking, or are we going to fight?" she looked at him evilly, with new anger in her eyes.

"Katya…"

"Die, fox!"

--

Cagalli and Ayame sat outside on a bench, the wind blew through their hair, and the sun's setting rays made the sky look like gold.

"Do you think Katya will be fine?" Cagalli asked suddenly. "I mean, she said that Naruto was the one, right? I don't think she'd be comfortable fighting him."

"Yeah," agreed Ayame, "she probably isn't taking it so well. How did you take your fight?"

"It was hard," she replied, "I didn't know Gaara had the side to him. I haven't seen him in a long time before this, so he might have changed, but I'm sure not for the better. His eyes were filled with bloodlust."

"So was his voice."

"Let's not talk about it," Cagalli smiled at Ayame, "How are you shoes holding up?"

"Their fine," she replied, "I mean, it was only water."

"Then why did you freak out?"

"It made me angry, that's what you need to learn, Cagalli, anger." She looked back at her friend. "Out of the three of us, you are the softest, you need to know anger."

"I do…" she replied, her smile vanished, "you have no idea how much hate I have store inside."

Ayame smiled. "Yes, I do."

--

"_I won't lose to Naruto!" _thought Katayanagi. _"He's the last person I will lose to!"_

--

_(Flashback:)_

"_I killed them all…" the little girl thought, "Why did they have to die? I'm all alone…"_

_(End Flashback)_

_--_

"_Why is that day coming back into my head?" _Katya clenched her fists. _"I don't want to remember that! I hate everybody! Nobody deserves to live in my world, and it will be my world! Wait…"_

"Fine!" Naruto called out. "If you're going to fight, then fight me!" he charged.

--

_(Flashback:)_

"_I'm here," a hand reached out to her, "It's okay, Katya, I'm here." The face of a blonde boy appeared in front of her._

"_Who are you?" Katya asked._

"_My name is of no importance." He replied. "Katya, I love you. But please, listen, let me tell you that the road you trod might get you hurt, your friends might even die."_

"_What do you mean? Why will they die?"_

"_Because," he replied, "if you take the wrong path on the way you are going, everybody will die."_

"_How?"_

_  
"You have to find out," he replied._

"_Tell me your name!" she demanded._

"_Uzumaki Naruto."_

(End Flashback)

--

"_Uzumaki Naruto," _she thought as he was charging towards her, _"you gave me strength, and it was only a dream. What I don't get is; how did I know your name when we hadn't even met yet? That night I found you, too. Apparently you had a dream similar to mine, it was about me, and you hadn't met me yet then either."_

"_You are the one."_

He kept charging, then pulled out a kunai.

"_You will win."_

"Fight back!" he almost covered the long 10 feet of distance between them. (A/N: I'm staying true to anime, 10 feet always seems like 100)

"_I cannot fight you."_

"I said fight back!" the kunai was inches from her throat, and moving fast. She closed her eyes, knowing he was probably going to kill her. She felt a stinging pain, but not in her neck, that would have instantly killed her. The pain came from her left shoulder. "Why didn't you dodge at least?"

"…"

"I didn't want to," he replied, "why didn't you dodge?"

"Because," she replied, "I can't fight you."

"I thought…"

--

"I think," Cagalli said suddenly, "I think that Katya will be fine…"

As they both looked up into the sky, and it seemed to smile. The sun was almost set, and after Katya's match there was only one more.

--

Katya dropped to her knees; the kunai was still in her shoulder.

"Can you continue?" Anko asked and Katya shook her head. "Alright then, Uzumaki Naruto is the winner!"

--

"Naruto," Katya walked up to him as they waited for the opponents of the next match to enter the arena, "When we started, I thought that because you are the One, I have to beat you, but at the end I know that even if I tried, I wouldn't be able to, that's why I didn't fight back."

"…" he didn't respond.

"Please forgive me," she said after a moment, "I should have fought anyway…"

"No," he replied, "you chose not to fight me and that's ok, and though I don't know what you mean by 'you are the One', I know that you had good reason not to fight me."

"Thank you," she smiled truly, something she had never done before, "Thank you, Uzumaki Naruto."

--

"Alright!" Anko declared, "The last match is Aburame Shino vs. Shikamitsu Rikku. Begin!"

Shino didn't move, but Rikku charged.

"_A straight forward attack?" _he thought then noticed something very strange.

He dodged everyone of her taijutsu strikes with ease.

"_Why is she fighting?" _he thought. _"She's blind."_

--

**Not that big a cliffy but a cliffy's a cliffy! Anyway please review and remember to tell me who you like Sakura paired up with, I need input. I could put her with Lee-san, Kakashi-sensei (not many people like that pairing), or almost anyone else. So please R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I know Shino's soft spot is considered bugs, but I don't consider it that at all, but I did make up this soft spot! I just don't think his soft spot is bugs at all, he might protect them but that isn't considered a soft spot. Anyway, it's a totally made up weakness on my part, but I hope you enjoy it!**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 9 – Shino's Soft Spot

--

She kept attacking, but Shino dodged every time, not being able to fight back; because he had a soft spot for blind people.

--

(Flashback:)

"What is your soft spot?" Kiba asked Hinata as they sat together one evening.

"I-I don't know…" she replied as she thought of Naruto, her cheeks began to turn soft pink.

"A crush," he replied, "doesn't really count as a soft spot. I mean a soft spot for cats or something."

"I don't have one." She answered after a moment. "Do you?"

"Yeah!" he replied with a smile. "I would never be able to attack old people, because they can't defend themselves, plus old people are usually nice." He looked over to Shino, the loner of the group. "What about you, Shino?"

"…" after a moment he replied. "Blind people."

"_Heh, he actually said," _Kiba thought, _"he's so confined I'm surprised he answered."_

"Blind people can't see, that is a beautiful gift," he replied, "some insects cant see, but all of that particular kind are born that way. Humans, however, are not. So blind people are always looked down upon because they can't see, like everyone else, and people make insults about them in front of their eyes knowing they can't see the insult. It really isn't fair."

(End Flashback:)

--

"…"

"What's wrong?" Rikku asked, "can't fight back?"

"It's not that." He replied but didn't continue. She just kept using taijutsu, no ninjutsu or genjutsu at all, almost as if she hadn't been taught any.

--

"These matches are useless," commented Naruto after a while of the same strike, dodge thing Shino and Rikku were doing, "I mean, if they aren't a fast match, someone yaps the whole thing and then gives up."

"You mean like your match?" Sakura teased.

"Heh!" he replied, "at least I didn't lose 'cause I didn't get enough rest!"

"Take that back!" she yelled at him. "I lost 'cause Lee is better than me!"

"Then why did you just collapse?" he smiled evilly at her.

"Shut up, Naruto!!" she yelled. "I might not have lost if you don't snore! Then I could have gotten some rest when we were in the forest!"

"Ooh sorry!" he replied with a grin. "But I don't snore, and you just admitted you lost because you were tired, you should have said something."

"Not like it would have mattered!"

"Shut up, you two." Sasuke said after he took as much as he could.

--

"_This isn't good at all," _thought Kiba as he watched his teammate, _"Shino has a huge soft spot for blind people, he might not be able to fight back…"_

--

"I can't fight you!" said Shino finally.

"You afraid?" she asked. He caught her arm and threw he to the ground.

"No, I'm not afraid," he replied, "I don't like fighting blind people."

"And I hate people like you!" he jerked back. "You people always take us blind people lightly, just because we can't see! Well I don't give a shit if you don't like fighting people like me, I'll win for sure!"

"You people think," she continued, "that we hate it how people make fun of us, well we don't care! They have no lives and are just wasting their time if they think that they are hurting our feelings, but no! We blind people don't care, we care about the people who take pity on us!"

She stood up, "Ok fine! When I say 'we blind people' that's not true. _Most _like the pity and they like it how people care about them, and they cry when someone makes a blind joke. _Most _blind people don't go to school and know how to read and write anyway, with braille and special teachers and pens and such. But _most _blind people have parents!"

"_She's an orphan, too?" _Shino thought.

"_He let his guard down…" _she smacked him one in the nose and he went flying backwards.

"_How did she know where I was?" _he thought, _"Come to think about it, how did she keep following me around the arena if she's blind?"_

He fell to the ground and she jumped up above him and elbowed him in the stomach.

"So," she said, "you are weak, too."

"I'm not weak," he replied, "I just don't like fighting blind people."

"I told you I hate you people who pity us!" she snapped.

"I don't care." He replied. "I feel sorry for blind people and your opinion won't change it."

"…"

"And that is why," he stood up as he brushed off his thick coat, "I will show you that I also be ruthless, by defeating you."

"Just try!" she replied.

"_I don't know how she can see me, but I believe it is some sort of chakra sensing jutsu or something like it. So, if she can see my chakra…" _many small bugs started to crawl out from under his coat that came from inside him, all of them containing small amounts of chakra inside them.

"_What's this?" _she thought, _"I'm starting to see much more chakra around him, and it's growing…"_

Soon the bugs were all around her.

"That's it!" she yelled. _"Water Style! Crushing Flood Jutsu!" _she made some hand signs and then the place started to begin to flood again.

"_What?" _he thought, _"Is she trying to drown my bugs? That might actually work…"_

_  
"Water Style! Water Dragon Jutsu!" _she started many hand signs.

"_No you don't!" _Shino thought as he started to make his way as fast as he could towards her.

"_I won't let you win!"_

--

**Wow…dude…one my first matches that didn't take half a page! WOW! Anyway, please R&R! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hmm, chapter 10, eh? Well thanks for the reviews and please enjoy one of my first fights that isn't less than one page long!!! I said that already, didn't I? …**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 10 – The End of the Preliminaries

--

Her blind aqua blue eyes filled with terror as Shino swiftly approached her. She wouldn't be able to finish all the hand signs for the Water Dragon Jutsu, and she knew it, though she couldn't see. But what could she do? For the few seconds she had, she pondered it.

Shino looked deep into her eyes that saw nothing, her long blonde hair framed them with her lightly tanned skin. Her eyes opened wide as she 'saw' him grab a kunai and stabbed it forward, she didn't have time to dodge.

"_Why didn't she dodge like before?" _he thought with the terror of maybe having killed her. The kunai was stuck in her stomach. She spit out blood and it hit Shino's shoulder. She looked towards him, and though she couldn't see him she knew he was sad.

"Why didn't you dodge me?" he asked her and she shook her head.

"I-I didn't want to-to hurt so-someone so-so kind to me." She replied slowly. Shino heard Anko call for a stretcher. "Nobody was e-ever so-so kind…" she collapsed.

"_Rikku…"_

--

"_Why am I surrounded by idiots?" _thought the mist ninja. _"Both Kone and Rikku failed, idiots…"_

--

"And that concludes the prelim matches of the third round of the chuunin exam!" Anko declared. All of the winners of their matches lined up; Neji, Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Temari, Gaara, Ayame, Shino and the ninja from the mist village. "Lady Hokage will now explain how the finals will proceed."

Anko stepped back and Tsunade took her place. "First I would like to congratulate everyone who won their match today," she exclaimed, "and now I will explain the finals."

As Tsunade explained the finals, which were the same as before, Cagalli approached Katya, who stood on the balcony.

"Katya," she said as she reached her, "Ayame is the only one who won."

"Yeah, I know. What's your point?" she asked.

"Well," Cagalli took a moment to think before she spoke, "Gaara beat me and Naruto beat you, I just don't want Ayame to go against either of them…"

"Cagalli," Katya turned to her, "Ayame will be fine, no matter who she fights."

"I know that, but…"

"I said, whoever she fights she'll be fine!" she started to raise her voice.

"Katya, calm down, ok?" she said softly.

"_How can I calm down when such memories haunt me?" _she thought as she felt her eyes grow moist. She turned away.

"Katayanagi." Cagalli said sternly. "Ayame and I have shared with you what happened when we were young, but you haven't shared yours with us. I don't want to bring it up to bring you pain, but I want you to trust us, ok? Later, will you share at least a bit of what happened?"

"…"

"Please?" Cagalli asked. "We are your friends, right?"

"Yes, later, ok?" she replied, "I think I'll be able to then…"

--

"So," Tsunade continued, "everybody has a month to rest and train, use it however you wish but remember that everybody knows how you fight, so get some new

tricks."

"_Not everyone…" _thought Anko, _"that ninja from the mist village, Ryuga, his fight was less than a second long, nobody could have seen that."_

"Please, each of you take a number from the box Anko is holding." Anko walked up to the first in line, and went to the last one. The tournament proceeded as shown:

Lee smiled, and looked towards Neji, who looked forward, almost emotionless.

Temari looked through the corner of her eye at Ayame, who stood calm and quiet.

Shino gulped as he looked towards the tall, strong mist village ninja.

Naruto smiled and looked at Sasuke, who looked back at him. They thought the

same thing.

Gaara stood without moving.

Everyone was then excused, and they left the building for one month.

--

"So, Sasuke and Naruto," Sakura said after they left, "you two are up against each other, how do you feel?"

"Great!" they said in unison.

"I can't wait, I'm going to train extra hard!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Same here." Sasuke agreed.

"So I guess you'll be going off on your own? Is Kakashi-sensei going to train you?" Sakura asked and they both shook their heads.

"No, I'm going to find a better trainer." Naruto replied.

"I have high expectations, a month might pass without me finding one, so no, not unless worse comes to worse." Sasuke answered and the three split up after Sakura wished them good training.

--

"Hmmm," Naruto mused to himself out loud, "who should teach me? I have high expectations like Sasuke, I wonder who…" He wondered along alone in the forest that he had met Katya in, he walked towards his small opening in the thick bushes. Then his eye caught something far into the forest that didn't look normal. He dashed towards it.

His eyes opened wide and they began to grown moist, fast. He remembered what Katya had said: _"Did you know that when someone is going to die, a family member or close friend will always think of them."_

"S-sensei…" he managed to say as he kneeled down and hugged the dead man. "W-When Katya said that," tears began to flow fast from his shut eyes, "I-I thought that-that it was just a lie…that it wasn't true! I didn't know, s-sensei, that m-my continual thoughts o-of you would mean th-that you would…die…" he opened his eyes slightly. "Iruka-sensei…"

--

"_Let's see…" _thought Sasuke as he sat on the top of the apartment building he lived in. The wind blew through his hair, making it blow into his eyes and mouth, and everywhere else. _"What teacher is there that can teach me everything I need to know to beat Naruto…" _an image of his brother came into his mind, he almost slapped himself for thinking that _he _might pose as a worthy trainer. _"But he would…" _he thought again and slapped himself for thinking it.

"What am I doing?" he thought. "I'll ask Lady Tsunade."

--

"Guy-sensei!" Lee dashed into the kitchen of his sensei's house.

"What is it, Lee?" he was reading a paper and drinking a cup of coffee.

"Sensei, I'd like to start training any time!" he said with excitement.

"Lee," Guy put down his paper and cup, and put his hands on Lee's shoulders, "I know you want me as your teacher, but I'd like you to go find another, a better one, alright?" Lee didn't answer, but he saw his smile vanish. "What I'm trying to say is that I want you to go out on your own two feet and get a new sensei, a better sensei than me, ok? It's not that hard to find one…"

"Guy-sensei…" Guy waited for him to start to yell at him or dash out of the room, "Roger! I'll find a new sensei, just like you asked!"

"_Lee is such a great kid…"_

--

Naruto was seen walking though Konoha, his clothes were full of blood and dirt, and he carried a shovel. Shikamaru, who was the teacher now of the Ninja Academy, spotted him and told the class it was break for 15 minutes, and he went to see him.

"Hey, Naruto, what's with the shovel?" he asked but Naruto didn't answer, but he stopped. "…"

"Iruka-sensei…" Shikamaru tilted his head to the side. "Iruka-sensei is…dead. I buried him just now with Lady Tsunade's permission."

"_So that's why I was all of a sudden told to teach at this Academy," _thought Shikamaru. "Naruto, it's okay to feel grief and sadness, and to cry. I know how much he meant to you, and I have no idea why he died or what you're feeling but I know one thing, Iruka is proud of you."

Naruto smiled slightly. "You're right, Shikamaru…Iruka told me a while ago, before the start of the chuunin exams. I should have remembered that." He smiled then continued on.

"_Poor kid," _Shikamaru thought, _"he really doesn't deserve such pain…"_

--

**Sorry all of you Iruka fans! But it kinda fits, eh? Anyway, please review and again I'd like to know who would like Sakura with who, I have no idea who to put her with, so I need ideas!! But yeah, R&R!**


	11. Chapter 11

**The second update today! Yay! Enjoy Katya's past**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 11 – Katayanagi's Past

--

"_Why did Iruka-sensei have to die?" _thought Naruto as he sat in his fairly small but still very spacious clearing. He had found Katya there. The stream still flowed and small white butterflies went from small flower to small flower.

"I thought I'd find you here." Naruto heard a voice and looked up. Katya stood above him, her long blonde hair hung down.

"What do you want?" he asked and turned away. "Leave me alone."

"Naruto," she sat down beside him, "tell me what's wrong."

"…" he waited a moment. "My sensei, Iruka-sensei, was killed."

"Oh," she replied, "I didn't know…"

"I didn't expect you to." He looked at her and her glass like eyes that only showed emotion rarely, and he remembered why he felt love for her.

"Naruto."

"Yes?" he moved closer.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked.

"Sure, what?" he asked.

She sat for a moment, then finally took a deep breath and began. "My headband," she said, "doesn't have a symbol on it." She pulled out her ninja headband and showed it to Naruto, he was amazed, a word was written on the headband. "It's supposed to be blank, but I wrote that there. It's blank because I'm from a village not on the map, not even known about to anybody outside of it spare a few people. It is blank because my village is called," he moved even closer, "the Hidden Light Village."

"When I was born, I was the first and the last my father and mother would have." She continued. "They said they loved me so much, and they showed it too, but my father was an alcoholic, and alcohol is completely forbidden in my village. If someone is caught with it, they must be executed, because nobody is allowed to leave that village unless they are invading another village, or something of the sort."

Naruto moved so close that their hips touched, and she continued. "They found out about my father's drinking, and exactly on my 6th birthday he was scheduled for execution. I was terrified, I loved my father and I knew I couldn't live without him if he died."

"Inside homes, everyone seemed happy, but when I went outside it was almost like an order that you couldn't be happy, around _me, _anyway." She sighed, and Naruto looked at her, the thought of Iruka's death far from his main interest at the moment. "But…"

--

(Flashback:)

6-year-old Katya was walking through her house, and she walked by her parents room and peered in.

"I told you that you have to stop drinking!" her mother yelled at her father.

"And I told you I can't!" he yelled back.

"Where do you get the crap anyway?" she asked, her voice still strong. Her mother was beautiful, she had long brown hair and always had it tied up at the back of her head with a blood-red ribbon, and she had soft green eyes.

"I told you that too!" her father was handsome, he also had brown hair and green eyes, as did everybody else in the village aside from Katya, who had blonde hair and dull-blue eyes.

"Well now look what happened because of you! Katayanagi is going to be short a father, is that what you wanted and thought about when you bought the shit?" she was walking around the room with her hands on her head.

"No it's not!" he replied then he realized what he had just said.

"And now they'll kill you!" she walked up to him. "You're going to be executed and on the day of your daughters birthday! She'll die when she finds out!"

"_Father is going to…die?" _Katya ran though the hallway and into her room, slamming the door.

"Was that…?" her father asked.

"Katayanagi…"

Katya lay on her bed, face down, her hands gripped her head tightly. She felt so many emotions that it almost killed her. She closed her eyes, and then heard a voice.

"_Katayanagi." _The voice said.

"Yes?" she replied.

"_You have something none of the others in your village have."_

"A soon to die father, or different looks? Which do you mean? And I know that!" she snapped back.

"_Yes, both, but something else, more unique." _She could now see a blonde haired boy speaking to her. _"You are the master of light and darkness, life and death, and the void between heaven and hell."_

"But why, and how?"

"_How isn't the question, why is. There is no answer for 'how'." _The boy replied, he was about the same age as her and had scratches on his cheeks. _"Every time someone dies, from now on, you'll feel their pain, sorrow and regrets, as well as many other things. It might tear you apart. You can also kill and heal, kill by thought and heal by thought. It's a dangerous power, so don't use it lightly."_

"I won't!" she replied. _"Now I can kill my fathers executers!" _

She opened her eyes and the vision of the boy left. _"Who was that, anyway?"_

"Katya, open up!" her mother knocked on the door.

"_I can't let my mother catch me," _she thought, _"I don't know what that boy meant by 'kill and heal by thought', but I don't want to take any chances." _The thought of her new powers left her mind as she opened the window and jumped out. Her mother than broke the door down and saw the empty room.

"Oh, Katayanagi," she said softly, "I'm so sorry."

--

Katya ran towards the tower in her village, it was on the other side of the village that the exit to the village was. The exit was blocked by the giant mountains, named after animals, like jutsu hand signs. On the other side was the world, and she was going to see it. _"If my father will die, no, my father won't die because those jackasses at the top will die first!" _she thought of them dying, thinking that would kill them, but when she reached the tower where they stayed, they were in a meeting, still alive. _"Why aren't they dead? He said I could kill with a thought." _

She barged into the meeting room, a little struggle from the guards then she was in.

"You won't kill my father because you'll die first!" as a last resort she pulled a kunai and headed for the head ninja there.

"Katayanagi, the oddball of the village, the outcast."

"_Outcast?" _she thought, _"Is that why everybody always seems so…mad?"_

"Die bastard!" she jumped onto the table and kept charging at him, but a sudden gust of wind sent her flying backwards.

"I am the most powerful of all of the head ninja of any village, and know over 5000 jutsu. You cannot kill me." He stood up.

"_Why won't he die? Why won't he die? Why won't he die!" _she kept thinking that as he walked up to her, the intent to kill in his eyes.

"NO!" she screamed as she lost consciousness, but her body didn't fall to the ground, it stood up. Chakra swirled around her as a image of a 14-year-old girl appeared above her. "My name is Akira Katayanagi," she said in a deeper more mature voice, "I am the Master of life and death, light and darkness and the void between heaven and hell."

"Bow down to me, girl." He said.

"I bow to no one." She replied and he fell dead. Her eyes closed, a shot of pain crossed her face but in less than a second it disappeared. Everyone in the room fell down, dead. The pain of their deaths that were supposed to affect her didn't show, and they felt very minor to her. She walked out of the room, and left the now empty tower. She walked though the village to the side towards the mountains, people dropping dead all around. Soon she reached where her house was, her mother stood outside, her eyes widened as she saw her daughter.

"Katayanagi!" she called out. Katya walked right up to her.

"Mother," she said, "you must die, too."

"Katayanagi what are you saying? Why can I see your chakra and…" her mother fell to her knees. "Kat…ya…" her mother died. Her father had seen and ran outside.

"What the hell are you…" he fell dead too. She bent down and picked up her mothers headband that was folded nicely in one of her pockets. She cut her mothers wrist and wrote on the blank part of the headband in her mother's blood, 'death'. She then stood up and walked again, and everyone started to die again. As she reached the end of the village, only one person stood there.

He wore a black outfit and his blank headband was tied around his head. His hair was brown and spiked, and his green eyes looked deeply into the older Katya's eyes. He was about 15. His arms were out, telling her to stop.

"Kino," she said, "move, or you die. I don't care if you were supposed to marry me, everyone else is dead, so there is nobody to enforce it."

"Die." Kino fell dead.

She walked out of the village as 6-year-old Katya, and all the pain of her village's death didn't affect her.

--

**Chapter 11 complete, please R&R, and same question, thanks.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12, fresh off the press! Thanks for the reviews and I'm glad my story is liked and being read. Well, hope you all like the next chapter. **

--

Unwanted

Chapter 12 – Sasuke and Naruto _still _don't have a new sensei

--

"Oh," Naruto said after she had finished her story, "I had no idea about that…"

"I told my friend Cagalli that I would tell them too, I haven't told them yet, but I just can't…" she hugged herself. Naruto's eyes closed half way as he reached out and took hold of Katya. He pulled her close to him and hugged her tightly. He felt her arms reach around his body and close tightly too. Then he felt her start to sob, then she pulled away from him.

"Katya?"

"Stay away from me!" she yelled at him.

"What?" he said, shocked.

"I said stay away, Uzumaki Naruto!" she stood up and looked down at him. "I hate you!"

Katayanagi dashed through the thick brush and she was gone.

"Katya…" he said quietly.

--

Naruto walked again through Konoha, he was dragging his feet and he hadn't changed since he buried Iruka, so his clothes were still dirty. Many people stared, some whispered to each other, they all watched the fox boy walk.

Ino, who was eating an ice cream cone with Chouji, saw Naruto and jumped up, leaving her cone behind.

"Naruto!" she called and she met face to face with him on the street. "What's up?"

"I don't want to talk now." he replied with a monotone voice.

"Naruto…"

"Please leave me alone."

She put her hands on her hips and looked at the bedraggled Naruto who looked only at the ground. "Naruto." she said again finally and he gave the same response. "Don't give me that!" she snapped back and his head lifted slightly. "What happened to the Naruto I used to know who always ran around, care-free, chasing after Sakura and rivaling with Sasuke?" he shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Well go find him, ok? Because this new Naruto is a stick in the mud and an ass as far as I can see, so lighten up, alright?" she smiled at him sweetly and her voice was sweet. Everyone looked at the two in the middle of the street.

"He's gone." he replied.

"Where did he go?" she asked. He didn't respond instantly, it took him a moment.

"He's dead." Ino started to get mad. She lifted her hand and slapped him.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM, NARUTO?!" she yelled. "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT PUT YOU INTO THIS MOOD BUT I DON'T LIKE IT AND NOW THAT I THINK OF IT, IT WAS PROBABLY NOT A GOOD IDEA TO SLAP YOU BUT I DON'T CARE!! LIGHTEN UP, NARUTO! YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT SO BADLY OFF!"

"What do you know?" he asked and without waiting for an answer he pushed by her and continued on.

"_I guess that was a little uncalled for…" _she thought than laughed. _"So was that…"_

--

Sakura brushed her hair and then put down the brush and sat back on her bed. She wanted to help Sasuke find a trainer, but she had no idea where to start. Kakashi-sensei is who she would have picked. She got up again and looked out her window, Naruto was sitting gloomily on a bench outside; she went to see him.

He was looking at his feet and didn't move when she approached him. "Hello, Naruto," she said sweetly, he didn't respond, "what's wrong?" he shook his head.

"Many things." He answered.

"You can tell me, Naruto." Sakura felt that she had been so mean to him all the times before when they were together, hitting Naruto and chasing Sasuke, her rudeness had never seemed to affect him, and now she felt as if she helped his condition now. "You can tell me anything."

"Remember Iruka-sensei? From the Academy?" he asked after a moment of silence, she nodded. "He's dead, someone killed him." The news shocked Sakura.

"But Naruto!" she said in a louder tone. "He meant so much to you!" he nodded and she quieted down. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

"That's what _she _said too…" he whispered.

"Who?" Sakura asked.

"Katya." He replied almost instantly. "I told her, and then I hugged her but she started to cry and pulled away from me and said she hated me. I have no idea she was faking the whole time…"

"About?"

"Liking me."

"She said she did?"

"No, but she gave me this," he took out the locket she had given him before the chuunin exams began, "she said it was for good luck. And when we first met…"

Sakura waited patiently for him to continue, but he didn't. "And when we first met…?" she urged him on.

"She kissed me." Sakura was shocked. Any girl she knew wouldn't just kiss a guy they liked as soon as they met, they were too shy or something, or just too _sane. _But what was insane about kissing someone you just met? She pondered on the questions. "And in our fight she said she couldn't fight me…I don't know anymore!" he yelled out now, and then was quiet. "Is there even a point to live…?"

Inside, Sakura felt furious. She stood up fast and looked down at the blonde. "What do you mean, 'is there even a point to live'? You want to be Hokage, remember? So that you can be _recognized, _and not be looked down upon because you have the spirit of a fox that almost killed everyone in Konoha! You don't want people to think of _that _when they see you or your name, you want them to think, _'the Hokage, Konoha's leader,' _not _'the boy with the fox inside him', _right?" he nodded slightly.

"Iruka is dead, your girlfriend dumped you, and you think your life is over?" she realized something. "I've never had someone close to me die, I was fortunate, but does that mean I'm weak and will give up everything when something goes wrong? What would Iruka want you to do?"

Naruto thought a moment, then replied, "He'd want me to be strong."

"Exactly."

"And," Naruto stood up and looked Sakura in the eye, "and I will be strong, I'll make Iruka-sensei proud." Then his usual smile appeared on his face, a smile he thought he would never smile again. "Thanks, Sakura!"

"Sure Naruto," she smiled back, "no problem."

--

"_Now, about my new trainer…" _he thought. He was sitting on another bench looking towards the river. A pair of half-naked legs appeared in front of him, he looked up quickly before he started to blush. The silver-haired teammate of Katya's was standing in front of him.

"You're Naruto, right?" she asked.

"Uh huh…" he answered. "And you are the one with the crush on Gaara, right?" she turned red.

"How the hell do you know?" she snapped.

"Because of two things. You were always looking at him and in your battle you well, you get my drift." He shrugged. "So anyway, what is it that you wanted?"

"To train you." Naruto jumped up, almost making her fall backwards and roll into the river. She caught her balance. "What's so wrong with that? Why did you jump up like that?

"What do you mean?" he snapped, his blood pressure rose tremendously. "I don't want to be trained by someone younger than me _and _who lost their fight!"

"Hey watch your tongue!" she snapped back. "How do you know I'm younger than you anyway, besides, I lost to a _worthy _opponent!"

"Yeah?" he said more clam, "I'm 13 and was born on the 10th of October."

"I'm 13 and was born on the 1st of April." She replied. Naruto felt stumped, he had to think of a comeback…

"Well how do I know you didn't just lose you match on purpose just so you could have lost by Gaara's hand?" The emotion in Cagalli's eyes turned from anger into sadness.

"What do you know?" she ran off.

"…" Naruto sat back on the bench. "I guess she would have been an alright trainer…"

--

"Lady Tsunade!" Sasuke was finally let in to see the Hokage.

"What is it, Uchiha?" she asked him.

"I need a sensei, so I can train before the month is up and the chuunin exams continue." He said it all out at once.

"Hmm…"

"Well can you do that?" he asked, she mused for a moment longer than replied, "Yes Sasuke, I think I can."

She stood up from her desk and walked towards him. "Now what kind of sensei would you like?"

--

**That is the end of Chapter 12! Phew, that took its time but wait a moment I updated yesterday! Man I'm going fast, that's good. Well please R&R!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13, thanks for the reviews people, I've decided who I'm pairing Sakura with (there aren't any hints in this chappy, though) but I'm not gonna tell you! Hehe! Ok fine, but soon you all should figure it out:)**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 13 – Training Begins

--

"Now what kind of sensei would you like?" Tsunade asked Naruto as they stood in her office.

"Uh," Naruto said after a while then thought, _"What kind of sensei _do _I want?" _he mused over the question for a while as Tsunade waited patiently in front of him. "The kind of sensei I want is…"

--

Sasuke looked into the eyes of his new sensei, he couldn't remember what her name was though he heard it almost 50 times. Sasuke sighed. "Alright," he said finally as he looked into the patient, lazy eyes of the light blue haired jounin. She wasn't from Konoha, she was from the mist village but was trusted greatly by Tsunade, so he had to trust her as a sensei. "Let's start. What can you teach me?"

"Well," she brushed her short hair out of her eyes, "what do you want to learn?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I guess anything as long as it ups my skill."

"That really narrows it down." She stood up from her seat on the grass. "I guess I'll pick then." She walked over to Sasuke and felt his arms, making him blush.

"What are you doing?" he pulled away from her.

"You are fairly strong for your age." She sat back down. "First, before we can start, I want you to tell me what pushes you forwards, in other words, why do you want to be taught."

"So I can win in the chuunin exams."

"Not what I meant." She sighed. "Alright then, let me word it differently still, why do you want to win in the chuunin exams? What are your goals?"

"Well," he sat down too, "mainly I need to kill someone; revenge is my goal."

"And how will winning the third round of the chuunin exams help you with that?"

"…" he thought for a moment. "It will make me stronger, if I cannot defeat Naruto then I will never be able to defeat _him_."

"And who is _'him'_?" she asked.

"My brother."

--

Naruto's mind swirled as he thought of who he wanted as his sensei. Many images of Iruka appeared in his mind, but the one that he saw most was the one of when he saw him laying on the grass, imbrued in his own blood. His head started to spin and in less than a second he fell unconscious to the ground.

"Naruto!" Tsunade gasped.

--

"Really." Sasuke's new sensei said as he finished revealing his awful past to her.

"Yeah," he replied, "it happened exactly like that."

"…" she stood up. "Alright then, now that I know what's pushing you forward I can train you."

"Good," he replied, "what are you going to teach me?"

"First," she said after a moment, "what's my name?"

Sasuke was shocked, he had no idea she would ask him that. "W-What do you mean?"

"I mean what's my name."

"Why do you ask?"

"Because the whole time we've been here you haven't addressed me by my name, so I thought you might have forgotten." Sasuke sweat-dropped.

"Uh…"

"Alright," she said sort of disappointed, "Call me sensei for now, but I want you to

remember my name, I'm not going to tell you it."

"Why do I have to?" Sasuke inquired.

"Well," she said, "Like you and everyone else I have a past, it's not tragic like yours but when I first became a teacher I taught differently from everyone else, in other

words, this is a test of memory."

"_What a weird way of training your mind…" _he thought then nodded. "Fine, I'll try to remember."

"Good then!" she brushed her blue hair behind her ear. "Let's get started!"

--

"Naruto are you ok?" he opened his eyes and saw two large green spears looking back at him. "S-Sakura?" his eyes focused on the pink-haired genin.

"Lady Tsunade said that you fainted in her office." Sakura sat down on his bed. "She called me and told me to take you to your house; that's where we are now." He sat up and instantly recognized his apartment.

His eyes wandered to the pictures beside his bed. _"Iruka-sensei…" _

"That's what happened…" he said almost in tears.

"Naruto?"

"I-I know I should be strong but," tears started to run down his face, "but I just can't be. Iruka-sensei meant everything to me, Sakura, and now he's dead. I don't know if my dream is enough to make me forget…"

"Naruto we talked about this." She wrapped her arms around him to comfort him. "You shouldn't forget Iruka-sensei, I've never lost anyone so I don't know how you feel and therefore don't know how to help but I'll do what I can, Naruto, just name it."

"Sakura?"

"Hnm?"

"You can't bring Iruka-sensei back, can you?" his voice was shaking.

"No, I'm sorry Naruto, I can't."

"…"

--

"Let's go again!" the blue haired jounin who was now teaching Sasuke yelled. "Don't give up, I thought you wanted to kill your brother! He's the top nin, with that work you couldn't even kill my grandma! Probably 'cause she's dead, but that's not the point!"

"How exactly is this training?" he asked.

"Simple," she started to explain for the fifth time, "you hold the basket above your head and don't let it fall into the water, and you can't let the birds get any worms from it."

"But why do I have to balance at the same time?"

"How many times to I have to tell you?"

"I'm only asking because it's nuts!" he felt the two sticks that held him up start to wobble, and he put more chakra into his feet and it went though the sticks and into the ground, keeping them steady. A bird stole a worm. "Damn!" he pulled the basket away.

"_What stupid training, how is this going to help me anyway?"_

--

"Not bad." She said after he succeeded in keeping at least half the basket of worms in the basket for 3 hours.

"Can I ask you one question?" Sasuke asked.

"Shoot."

"How will this help?" she sat down but he kept standing, she scratched her cheek then lay back on the soft grass. It didn't look like she was going to answer so he asked again. "How is this going to help?"

"Sasuke." she said fairly quietly. "Do you remember my name?"

"_Why is she asking me again?" _he thought. "No I don't."

"Why not?"

"I dunno. You told me at least 5 times."

"Right, so why not?" she asked again.

"I said I don't know."

"I asked why, 'I don't know' isn't an answer, and if you answer with that again, or anything like it tomorrow you'll have to do an extra half-hour of holding the basket.

Now," she sat back up, "why don't you remember my name?"

His eyes traveled to her chest and then his eyes opened with shock. "Are you-what?" he asked surprised.

"Finally." She sighed. "I didn't know it would take you the whole day to notice that I'm wearing a name tag.

"When did you put that on?" asked Sasuke.

"This morning, before we started training." She smiled. "So can I ask you again, what is my name?"

"Why did you do that?" Sasuke ignored the question. "I mean, if you were wearing a name tag this whole time then why did you keep asking if I knew your name? To see if I noticed it?" his voice changed more to anger. "Well that's a stupid training exercise! When you said you trained differently I thought it might be a good different but now I see I was wrong!"

"What are you saying, Sasuke?" she asked. "Are you saying that I can't train you?"

"No I'm not, I'm saying you can't train _anybody!_"

"So you judge people that way, eh?" she stood up. "Would you like me to judge your personality from all that I've seen of you?" she continued before he could answer. "I think that you are a great kid and would go far if your temper and anger didn't burst out at any time."

The comment surprised him; she smiled. "Now can you tell me what my name is, Sasuke?"

"No," he said sarcastically, "I can't, sorry for letting you down."

She looked at him funny. _"What's with this boy? I've never met anybody so stubborn." _

--

**Wahoo! Long chappy! As I said, there were no hints regarding Sakura and who she's going with, but I should hopefully update soon, but I've been slacking off on my other fic, so I have to type more on that so the update might not be so fast, I should get back to that…anyway please R&R!!!**


	14. Chapter 14

**This chapter is going to deal more with Katya and Naruto, there won't be much with Sasuke and I will throw in some hints about who I'm pairing Sakura up with. I don't really like the pairing myself, but I think it's most appropriate, so yeah, I'll throw some hints in, but she only interacts with one person so…it might be kinda obvious…**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 14 – You Don't Hate Me?

--

"_Why did I have to tell him that?" _Katya thought as she trudged along in jeans and a T-shirt along an empty path into a pine forest. _"I don't hate him…I told him my past that I couldn't even tell Cagalli or Ayame, why did I tell him?"_

"_I don't know what to think anymore, our mission, is that more important than my love for that Uzumaki boy? No I shouldn't clump them together, Cagalli and Ayame would kill me if they knew I thought that." _It was mid-day, it was two weeks until the finals of the chuunin exams, in a mere two weeks all of the ninja that won their prelim matches would be either promoted to chuunin or kept as a genin, she missed that chance to become a chuunin, but Ayame hadn't.

Ayame won her match, and might even become a chuunin. _"Will she leave me behind?" _she shook her head. _"Even if she does continue for revenge, Cagalli will go with her but, why am I following along with them, Orochimaru didn't do anything to me that would make me go after him for revenge. I have no reason to keep tagging along with them."_

"_Or do I?"_

"_No, I don't. It's their problem, not mine."_

"_But if they wanted me gone they would have said so, right?"_

"_I'm confused."_

"_I wish I'd never been born…"_

"_But then I wouldn't have met Naruto."_

"_My life isn't empty, it's only incomplete."_

"_I have reason to live."_

"_I have friends."_

"_Friends…"_

Katya heard footsteps; she turned her head and saw an orange clad boy walking towards her. She pretended to ignore him, but hoped he would talk to her. Her hope vanished as he walked by her, but he suddenly stopped and without looking back at her he spoke.

"Katya?" she turned her head. "Why do you hate me?"

"…" she didn't answer. _"What do I say?" _

"Katya?" he repeated.

"Naruto," she said after a moments pause, "I don't hate you but…"

He waited a moment until he saw she wasn't going to continue. "But what, Katya? You know you can tell me anything."

"My mission with my friends," she started, "I can't abandon them, and if I did I wouldn't be much of a friend now, would I?"

"No, I guess not." He moved a little closer. "But that doesn't say why you have to hate me."

"I'm sorry…"

"About?"

"I lied to you." She felt moisture in her eyes. "I-I don't have to hate you because of my mission, but…but it's something else. The thing I told you about me having control over the void between darkness and light, and so forth?" he nodded. "Well, if I develop feelings for a boy then the void between the two will start to lean to one side, it's not supposed to do that. If I become cold hearted it would lean further towards the dark side, meaning that it has more power over light. And if I develop feelings for a boy, it will lean more to the light, making the light more powerful than the darkness. It's even right now, they are stable, but if they become _unstable, _God knows what will happen."

"Oh, I see." He looked into her glassy eyes, and she looked back into his. "I don't care." He leaned over and pressed his lips on hers. She knew it was wrong, and she felt the light growing stronger like it did when she kissed him before, she knew she shouldn't kiss him back, but like Naruto said, she didn't care either.

"Katya?" she pulled away from Naruto as she heard the voice of her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." Two blue eyes blinked as they looked at Katya, confused.

"I did see that, Katya, not that it's a big deal or anything, right?" Cagalli walked up to them so they stood together. "But I did see that!" she smiled at her friend.

Katya and Naruto both started to blush. Cagalli felt like laughing but she just couldn't, and she didn't know why. "Anyway," Katya said finally, "It doesn't matter anyway."

"But what about what you said?" Naruto asked, Katya glared at him and he backed off.

"You told him your past when you wouldn't even tell Ayame and I?" her voice grew harsh.

"Yes I did, Cagalli! And though we are friends I think you are being too nosy! Butt out!"

"Katya," Cagalli's temper suddenly disappeared, "I don't want to fight with you, we promised that we would be there for each other, no matter what, Ayame too, am I not correct?"

"Yeah…"

"It doesn't matter, I know you'll tell me sooner or later." Cagalli smiled. Katya smiled back. _"Though I don't know what Katya's past is, I haven't seen her smile before, I've tried to keep a kind mood but around anybody but Ayame and Katayanagi, it's really hard…"_

--

"Lee-san? Is that you?" She approached the green clad boy as he trained in a grassy area. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Sakura?" Lee turned around and saw the smiling pink haired kunoichi standing not 10 feet behind him. "What brings you here?"

"I was going to see how Sasuke was making out with his new sensei," she walked up to him, "how is your training going?"

"Great!" he hit his chest with his fist. "Guy-sensei is the most awesome, but he told me to get a new sensei, but I haven't been able to find one better than him so I'm training by myself."

"Oh, cool." she smiled at him, a slight pink brushed over his cheeks. "Anyway, I'll see you later, Lee-san."

"Alright, Sakura! See you later too!"

Sakura walked past him and along the grassy field towards where Sasuke was training. He had told her to stop by and bring some lunch which he had forgotten to prepare for himself; he was too psyched about his new sensei to remember food. Sakura was glad he called her and not Naruto or someone; she smiled as she thought of his face.

--

Cagalli stared at Naruto, her eyes half-closed. Naruto felt hate coming from her glare, and he backed up a step. "Is that glare because of earlier?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," she said instantly, "you pissed my off royaly."

"What did he do?" Katya asked.

"Oh it's nothing much, I just like to glare with no reason at people, that's all." she turned to Katya. "Katayanagi, you seem perkier today."

"What do you mean perkier?" she demanded.

"Well usually none of us talk together because we're all so quiet, except for Ayame of course, she could talk the ass off a donkey, but I mean you seem happier."

"I do? Well, so do you Cagalli." she replied, Naruto felt as if he should leave, but he stuck around anyway.

"Yeah I guess I am happier." she looked towards the ground. "_He _talked to me earlier."

"Really?" Katya's voice went suddenly into a 16-year-old girl's gossipy voice. "What did he say?"

"Well, after Naruto pissed me off I got so rattled up that I started to cry." she started.

"_Though she did have a hard past she's never cried before, as far as I know, anyway. It must have been bad..." _Katya thought as she glanced at Naruto.

"He was standing close by," Cagalli continued, "and he asked me what was wrong. And seeing as it had something to do with what Naruto said, it had to do with Gaara, by the way, so he asked me what was wrong and I couldn't answer, so…"

"_Should I still be here?" _thought Naruto. _"Cagalli should be mad at me because of what I said, and Katya will ask any moment what I said…I should leave." _he turned around to leave but Katya caught his collar.

"Where are you going?"

Naruto smiled. "Nowhere, why do you ask?"

"So I told him, and…" she stopped suddenly, they heard someone coming. The wind started to blow, and they heard a whisper, but they couldn't figure out what was said.

"C'mon guys, let's go, I have a creepy feeling…" Naruto exclaimed.

"It's ok!" Cagalli said sarcastically. "Katayanagi will protect you!"

He felt mad, but then the wind stopped abruptly as did the whispering.

"Well that was sure weird…" the all said in unison.

--

"Alright, then!" Anko announced. "Now that all of you had a month to prepare for the finals it's here! We will start the first match as soon as the Kazekage gets here! Please wait patiently until then."

--

**That's chapter 14, cool, I have typed a lot; I'm proud of myself………anyway yeah…please review and good criticism is always welcome, just don't spaz, anyway I gather you all can guess who I'm putting Sakura with, yep, that's right. Oh and please check out my profile, I'm hiring people to do fanfic writing for me, as well as accepting apprentices and I'm also up for hire on fanfic writing. More details in my profile and next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry I haven't updated in _forever!_ Three fics at once really get to you, y'know? I'll try to update faster!**

**Oh, and I said I'd give you details on my profile, more to the point my hiring thingy this chappy, but I'll let you get to reading this chappy _first, _and I'll tell you at the end!**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 15 – Katayanagi is Gone

--

"Alright!" announced Anko. "Lord Kazekage is now here! Alright let's start this!"

The finals of the chuunin exams were held in the same place as last time, in the

outdoor stadium.

Gaara looked coldly up at the Kazekage, who ignored his glare, and a girl in the stands looked longingly at Gaara. She brushed her silver hair behind her ear and sighed.

They all stood in front of Anko, waiting for her to call the first match so everyone other than the first two ninja could go to the stands and watch.

"The first match: Hyuuga Neji vs. Rock Lee!" Anko announced, and then everyone but the two parted and went up the stairs of either side of the arena. Only Anko, Neji and Lee remained in the arena. "Begin!"

"_I will win!" _

--

"_I couldn't go." _Katayanagi thought as she leaned against her wall in her bedroom of her apartment. _"I want to but I can't! I don't know why but I can't go! Cagalli will probably come back for me, I won't go then either! Why am I such a chicken?" _she hugged her knees. _"And why are the memories from my past so strong now? Kino you bastard! Why do you haunt me? …I'm lonely, but I'm not willing to go see Naruto fight. Oh Naruto, please forgive me…"_

--

"Have you seen a kunoichi with long blonde hair…no? Ok thank you." Naruto dashed about, looking around. "She has long, shiny blonde hair…ok thanks."

"_Where could she be?" _his eyes fell on Cagalli. _"Heey, that's Katya's friend!" _he ran to her.

"Hi, Cagalli." he said, but she ignored her. "Hey, Cagalli, it's me, Naruto."

She shook her head and looked up at him. "Oh I'm sorry! I was day dreaming, would you like something?" she stood up.

"Yes, I would," he replied, "I looked everywhere for Katya but she isn't here. I want her to see my fight but…"

"She said," Cagalli interrupted, "she said that she wasn't coming. I think she said she was sick or some such thing, but she told me not to bother her, either, so I don't know. She didn't _look _too bad. You'd have to go see…"

"But…" he sighed. "I don't know where she lives…"

"I'll take you." he looked happily at her. "It's nothing, I really don't care much for watching these matches, they're the first ones of the finals, and I like the semi-finals and the final match better."

"Thanks so much!" Naruto smiled.

--

Cagalli stopped abruptly at one of the doors leading to an apartment. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a key.

"You have a key to her apartment?" Naruto asked.

"No, Katayanagi, Ayame and I all live here." she replied. "It's a two room plus a small kitchen and bathroom, but the bedroom is _huge _for an apartment." They walked in. "Katya!" she called. "Katya answer! Naruto is here for you!" no answer came back. Without removing her shoes Cagalli ran into the small living room; no one was there. The bathroom was empty and the kitchen was too. She checked the bedroom; no one.

"Hmm…" she mused as Naruto walked up to her after he had removed his shoes. "I wonder where…"

"She's not here?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Yeah, she's not. If she had a headache she should be resting and if she's sick she wouldn't leave unless it was _really _bad and she went to the hospital, but she's never gotten more than just a cold before." She looked around again to see if she left a note. There was none, and the made beds were still made. _"I can't imagine where she would be other than the chuunin exam finals." _she sighed. "Let's go."

Naruto put his shoes back on and they stood outside the door for a moment, thinking.

"Do you know where she might have gone?" Naruto asked. Cagalli shook her head.

"I haven't seen her that much since we got to Konoha a while ago," replied Cagalli, "she said she had to train and such, and she went off into the forest."

"_The forest?" _he thought. _"The forest, that's where she is!"_

Naruto turned around and took off.

"Where are you going?" she yelled after him.

"Just follow!" he yelled back.

--

She finally caught up with him as he waited by a small enclosure.

"Is this where she always went?" she asked and he shrugged.

"I think so. I mean I first met her here…"

"Hey," Cagalli pointed an accusing finger at him, and he backed up a step, "have you been doing dirty stuff with her in there against her will? That's probably why she didn't want to go to see your match! I knew she didn't look sick! Disgusted maybe, but not ill!"

"I did no such thing!" he replied sternly. She smiled.

"That's ok. I'm sure you _wanted to, _though."

"No I did not!" he protested.

"_It's so funny to make guys uptight like this. I love it when they start saying each _

_word so distinctly separate!" _she giggled.

"W-What's so funny?" he demanded.

"It's nothing. I'll stop bugging you though." she giggled again.

"_Good 'cause after that I'd have to pull out some firepower of my own!" _he turned around and went into the small enclosure with the small stream; Cagalli followed.

No one was there.

"_I thought she'd be here." _he thought sadly. _"I thought with all my heart that she'd be here…"_

"I thought you said she'd be here." Cagalli asked as she marveled at the sight of the small oasis. _"This is so beautiful for something so small. I guess when Ayame told me beautiful things don't always have to be big or popular, she was right. Dammed Kazekage…"_

"I-I thought she would be too." he said quietly. "But I guess not…"

"_Will this be it?" _thought Naruto. _"I have no idea who's match it is now, or how long I have until it's my match, but I can't just leave Katya…what do I do?" _

--

**Kind of a cliffy, eh? Yeah, so please review AND I PROMISE I'LL UPDATE SOONER THAN LAST TIME!!! **

**--**

**For other Inuyasha fans that have finished the anime! DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE AN INUYASHA FAN AND _HAVEN'T _FINISHED THE ANIME/MANGA!!! It's a spoiler.**

**The ending of Inuyasha so sucked, huh? I saw it last Friday and WOW did it ever go down hill! NOTHING HAPPENED! Kagome leaned on Inuyasha's shoulder and yeah, how many times has she done that before, huh? TOO MANY!!! You'd think Naraku (I'm a Naraku fan too:) ) would at least die, huh? Maybe even Kagura (I heard she does in the manga) but REALLY! What a sucky ending! Inuyasha's last words were something like, 'and we'll keep looking for Naraku'. Like WTF??? Miroku didn't marry Sango, Kagome and Inuyasha aren't even gf and bf!!! Miroku still has his hole, Kohaku is still under Naraku's control. Like WTF???**

**The episode that Sango was looking for Kohaku after Kirara (or Kilala) had spent time with him and Kirara showed Sango the flower patch. When I saw it I KNEW Kohaku was going to die after that. It was like his farewell episode, BUT THAT WAS THE LAST EPISODE HE WAS IN!!!!**

**Kagura JUST SHOWED she likes Sesshomaru (damn witch so do i:( ) and that also pissed me off 'cause though I didn't want anything to continue with that (KagXSesshy) it still should of. Agree? Like what kind of anime has a two second relationship ON THE LAST EPISODE, HUH???**

**That's my BIGGEST annoyance with anime so far. The Inuyasha ending episode. OMG!!! That's sooo pathetic! **

**Other than that I liked the last episode. Yes, I'm a hypocrite. **

**And I'm up for hire, just email me, and I hire too. Email me for that also. I'll read a fic you made (please tell me which one you would like me to read and if it doesn't matter say so) and I'll do that, and if you're good I'll say yes, and if not I'll say no, and if you're great I'll say 'why the hell not?!' **

**When one of you asks if I'll hire you and I say no, please don't take it personally. I'm picky. :)**

**If I do hire you, then I want you to clearly state on the top of your chapter 'Hired by amandaHuf. Looking for more staff.' or something like that I still haven't figure it out. lol**

**But don't think you have to be great to get hired, even if you think you aren't good and want to be hired ask anyway. You never know.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey, at least I got 2 updates this time, though it took awhile for them! Heh, I really should end one of my fics…NOT THIS ONE THOUGH! It's waaaay too much fun to write!!!**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 16 – The Search Continues

--

Lee smiled, as did Neji.

"Begin!" Anko called and they both readied their stances. Lee started off fast, but Neji countered with his Rotation technique. (A/N: I really wish I knew what all the jutsus and stuff were in Japanese!!!)

"Go uh…Lee!" Guy-sensei called from the stands.

"Guy-sensei! You _want _Neji to lose?" Ten-ten asked her sensei. Guy-sensei sweat dropped and sat down.

"Well kind of…" he replied.

Lee countered Neji's counter with his Leaf Hurricane, and Neji countered it with his Rotation again. They continued to counter each counter the other threw, countering, countering again, and countering again. It was one of their silliest moments. People in the stands started to yell for a real battle.

"_Neji is so strong, but I have speed as an advantage now." _Lee thought.

"_Lee is both strong and swift, I have to keep guarding, but using the Rotation over and over is draining my charka. Damn…" _Neji thought.

"_Time for a real battle." _They both thought.

--

Flashback:

--

"Lee," Guy approached Lee one afternoon, "I need to talk with you."

Lee stopped his training for a moment to see what his sensei had to say. "What is it, sensei?"

"Well," he began, "I haven't said this before, and I know how much you want to beat Neji this time, but…"

"What is it, Sensei?" Lee inquired.

"Lee," he took a deep breath, "I don't want you to use the lotus against Neji."

--

End Flashback:

--

"_Guy-sensei." _Thought Lee. _"I'm sorry, but I cannot do what you ask. I lost to the sand ninja last time, and I've waited so long to beat Neji. I've gotten so far; I will not restrain myself now! Please forgive me, Guy-sensei!"_

"_That's…!" _thought Neji right before Lee kicked him up into the air.

"_Lee," _thought Guy, _"I told you not to. I should have known you wouldn't listen."_

--

Naruto and Cagalli returned to the chuunin exam arena, hoping to not only find Katayanagi, but also to see whose match it was. They made it just in time to hear Anko announce Lee as the winner.

"And for the next match, Temari vs. Ayame!" announced Anko sternly.

Ayame smiled, she was getting restless and was glad when it was finally her turn to kick ass.

_"My opponent is from Sunagakure, the sand village, the same place Cagalli is from, as well as Gaara." _She thought, doing some last minute thinking as she walked towards the stairs. Temari walked behind her.

"_Ayame is from the mist village, huh?" _thought Temari. _"I wonder what kinds of tricks she has. She didn't use a single one except for that super-fast kunai attack in her last match. I wonder what she'll do…"_

They reached the arena, and their match was instantly called. They both smiled.

"_She uses wind attacks. That much is obvious, but she has no clue what techniques _

_and jutsu I have, so I have a technical advantage." _Thought Ayame.

"_She might have the advantage but she's careless. That much I could instantly tell from her last match. Getting worked up over getting her shoes wet? If that's all she cares about, she shouldn't even be a ninja." Thought Temari. _

--

Naruto sighed. Cagalli looked at him inquiringly.

"Does this mean you want to watch your pals match now?" he asked.

"No," she replied and he now looked inquiringly at her, "I know she'll win." He shrugged.

"I guess you have faith in her abilities?" he asked.

"Uh huh." She said. "Out of the three of us, she's got the most number of jutsus all together. I'm not saying _that's _how she'll win. But she's strong, fast, though not as fast as me when I have to be…"

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto interrupted. "'when you have to be'…? Does that mean you don't always try your hardest?"

She laughed. Naruto felt he missed the joke. He sweat dropped.

"No you're right. I guess I don't."

--

"You're so finished!" Temari yelled at Ayame.

"Oh you think so, girl?" Ayame asked. "I'll tell you! I don't take kindly to _your _kind!"

"What do you mean, _my _kind?" she inquired, confused.

"You have the worst fashion sense EVER!" she yelled. "I've NEVER seen such a BAD

outfit in my WHOLE LIFE!!!"

"What?" Temari yelled. "At least I don't get pissed when my shoes get wet!"

"Yo!" she yelled back. "They cost A TON of money! And I couldn't exactly get the guy who wrecked them to pay me back 'CAUSE HE KINDA DIED!"

"Just fight me!" Temari was sick of squabbling with her, and almost everyone in the audience was too.

"C'mon, let's go. We have to find Katya." Cagalli dragged Naruto away from the now intense battle.

"Wind Scythe jutsu!"

"Hah! That won't work on me, girl!" she formed many lightning fast hand signs that only a _few_ saw _half _of the ones she did.

"_What the hell did she just do?" _thought Temari. She gasped as a gigantic water shield appeared out of nowhere.

"_Those were quickly done hand signs…she did 20 in less than two seconds. She's fast." _thought Kakashi-sensei as he watched from the stands. _"And that jutsu…I've never seen it before."_

"_Where did that come from?" _Temari back off, trying to think of a new strategy. _"That jutsu of hers'…it must take a LOT of chakra, but my Wind Scythe doesn't take much. I should be able to out-chakra her. It's risky, but she's probably got many more powerful jutsu up her sleeve, so I better be careful."_

She put her plan into action.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!" she yelled again, and another giant gust of wind shot out from where she swung her large fan. "Wind Scythe Jutsu!" she swung again, and again, Ayame blocking all of them with the same jutsu she used before.

"C'mon," Shikamaru complained as he sat by Ino and Chouji as they watched the matches, "this is so boring! That sand nin did way better when she fought me last time; this plan of hers will make her lose for sure."

"Oh, my Shikamaru!" Ino grabbed his arm. "My Shikamaru is so smart!"

--

**Chapter 16 already, eh? That's cool, I HATE reading fics that stop at chapter 1, 2, 3 or 4 or so, it's so annoying because they don't have a story to follow up with. I love stories that when they stop, they have many more possibilities and therefore they _don't _stop. Yeah, that doesn't make much sense…**

**For the week after Christmas I won't be typing AT ALL, I'M SO SORRY BUT IT'S TRUE!!! Yeah, I won't be near a computer during the week after Christmas, so I'll try to get as many updates this week as I possibly can!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Alright, I haven't updated in FOREVER, I've had seriously MAJOR writers block. I'll (try) to update faster, so please continue to read!**

_**--**_

Chapter 17 – Cagalli's New Hatred

Unwanted

--

Naruto sat beside Cagalli on top of the Hokage building, looking out over the cloudy, red and orange sky. The sun was setting, hence said sky. They had looked everywhere for Katayanagi, and decided to just give up, hoping she would return eventually.

Temari had lost the match to Ayame. Temari used up all of her chakra almost instantly, while Ayame had more than enough to block all of her attacks, and deal the finishing blow.

The second half of the matches were postponed to the next day, at earliest, because Lady Hokage had some urgent business that had come up that needed to be taken care of.

As Sakura walked home, she spotted the two on the roof of the Hokage's building,

and went up to join them.

"Hello, Naruto, Cagalli," she said as she joined them.

"Hello, Sakura." replied Naruto.

"Hi, Sakura." replied Cagalli.

"What are you two doing up here?" she inquired as she sat next to Naruto, who was laying back and looking dreamily up at the clouds.

"Katayanagi, my teammate, disappeared," Cagalli replied calmly, "we were looking for her, but with no luck."

"Then why do you sound so calm about it?" Sakura asked shocked at how relaxed Cagalli sounded.

"I shouldn't be worried, I guess maybe I should, she wasn't feeling well when I left her this morning, but I know she won't be in any trouble." she replied, almost calmer

than before.

"_I don't get how she can act so calm if her teammate is missing. Oh well, I guess." _Thought Sakura.

"Is that so." they all turned around to see who had spoken behind them. "You shouldn't be worried, huh? She wasn't feeling well, so you just left her? What kind of

a friend are you?"

"Don't speak of friends and worry so lightly, Gaara!" Cagalli snapped back at the red head as she stood up to look at him at eye level. "You know nothing about love or friendship!"

"I thought she likes him." Sakura whispered to Naruto.

"So did I." he whispered back.

"So, you actually are standing up to me?" Gaara asked her, his arms folded across his chest.

"What does it sound like?" Cagalli replied.

"Oh, well," Gaara sighed sarcastically, "I just thought you'd just shut up and watch me, like you always do, or maybe cry because you think you're so badly off because your friend ran away. Actually, I don't blame her."

"Shut your mouth!" Cagalli yelled.

"See, you're starting to cry right now."

"So what? And _don't _talk about Katayanagi that way or you'll pay! Yes, maybe I just stood back at watched you before, but no more, got that? You mean nothing to me anymore, not like you did _then, _things have changed and I don't even want to see your face anymore, so leave!"

"You hurt my feelings."

"Bull shit!"

"Oh, don't talk like that to me. I thought you _loved _me," Gaara's voice turned from one of sarcasm to hate and anger, "I thought you _adored _me, _longed _for me, _dreamed _of me! And now you say you don't want to see me again?"

"That's right!"

--

"_I'm sorry Naruto." _Thought Katayanagi as she lay down to rest, looking through the trees at the blue sky and the lonely moon. _"If I stayed, only bad things would happen. I feel _her _acting up again, and I can hear her voice again. She's telling me horrible stuff, I can't bear it. Thankfully she's asleep now."_

--

Flashback:

--

"Ayame!" called Cagalli as they walked through the village hidden among the rocks. They were 10 years old at that time.

"What is it, Cagalli?" Ayame asked as her friend pulled her away from another

jewelry store. '

"I told you, we're low on cash so we have to spare it! Hey…did you just buy that?" she looked at a beautiful fake sapphire necklace that was clutched in Ayame's hand.

"N-N…ok yes I did! But it was only 10,000yen, don't get tied up in a not!" she replied.

"10,000yen? That's enough to buy a meal! We only have 50,000yen left then! Stop buying things!"

"Fine, fine! I will!" Ayame placed the necklace inside a small case, which she then into her pocket. "Speaking of _meals…_"

"Yeah," Cagalli answered to the sudden growl of Ayame's stomach, "I'm getting hungry too. Let's go find a place to eat."

They stopped at a small, cheap restaurant and ordered only enough to satisfy them for the rest of the day, since the current meal was dinner.

--

End Flashback:

--

**This last chapter was kind of short, but I was trying to get it out there, so the next will be longer!! This flashback will be continuing next chappy too!!! Please review and I will update soon!!!!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Alright, thanks for reviewing, even when I had my little 'writers block'. So hope you all enjoy chapter 18, and the flashbacks will be continued in this chappy!**

**--**

Chapter 18 – Katayanagi Returns

Unwanted

--

Flashback:

--

"That food was really good!" Ayame complemented the chef as she pushed her empty ramen bowl away so she could lean on the table.

"It was." agreed Cagalli. She paid and they left.

"Where'll we sleep tonight, outside the village again?" asked Ayame, a slight moaning tone in her voice.

"I want to sleep in a good bed for once, too, but right now we have to sleep on the rocks." they found a place to lie down and rest, and soon they had fallen asleep.

--

They awoke to the bright sun shining on their faces, and they squinted and sat up, rubbing their eyes. Ayame yawned.

"Shh!" Cagalli clasped her hand over Ayame's mouth, which was still wide open. "I hear someone; maybe an ambush." she whispered.

"Who would ambush a couple kids who are sleeping right outside the cheapest village of all time? It's obvious we're broke." Ayame whispered when Cagalli took her

hand off of her mouth.

"Doesn't matter. They _think _we're weak." she replied as they both took cover behind a rock. In an instant they saw a shadow cast across where they had just been, and they looked up at a silhouette of a small girl, the same height as them.

"Halt!" yelled Cagalli as she jumped out from behind the rock, kunai in hand.

Ayame joined her. "State your name, business, and what you are doing here!"

"Dumb ass!" Cagalli said to Ayame. "Business and what they are doing here is the same damn thing!"

"Oops…"

"My name and business?" the girl said drowsily.

"Yes. State them now."

"My name? I've forgotten." the girl replied as she sat herself down in front of a rock to rest.

"You've…forgotten your own name?" Ayame asked, shocked. She suddenly noticed a choker around the girl's neck. It had a name on it. "Isn't that your name on your necklace?"

"Could be." she replied simply.

"What do you mean by that? You can't read or something?" inquired Cagalli.

"Yes, I can read, I just haven't looked at it before. I'm tired, and it's hard to breath. How high up is the village?" inquired the girl as she wiped sweat from her forehead.

"It's at sea level." replied Cagalli.

"Your choker seems a little tight…here let me loosen it for you…there." Ayame took the necklace off from around her neck. "Oops!"

"It's ok." the girl took the necklace. "Wow, it's easier to breath now! Please read my

name for me, I can't see right now. My eyes are still blinded from that sun shinning."

"Ok." Ayame looked closely at the Katakana on the necklace. "Your name is…Katayanagi."

--

End Flashback:

--

"_Ha…that was a good day." _thought Katayanagi. _"I was young and had no idea of what lay ahead, but now I'm aware. I know. I know that if I stayed with Naruto I'd end up killing him. But how I love him…he is so…innocent."_

--

Katya awoke, she had no idea that she had fallen asleep. The sun wasn't up yet, so she decided that she had only dozed off for a moment. She stood up, but the surroundings didn't seem like they were before. She took a step, she bumped something. Katya looked down to see what was in the way of her feet, it was Naruto.

"Naruto?" she gasped. "When did you find me? _How _did you find me!?"

"Katya." he opened his eyes and stood up. They were filled with hate and anger. "Why did you run away? You could have told me! Why did you leave? Why do you not trust me? _Why did you run away?"_

"N-Naruto, I ran away because I…"

"Enough." he interrupted her. "No excuses, you left because you were scared. Don't

lie to me, you want to piss me off more?"

"What are you doing, Naruto? This isn't like you?"

"And this is you, Katya? I'm looking into the eyes of a completely different person than who I love. I don't love you. I love Akira Katayanagi."

"I am Katayanagi! What are you saying?"

"Ha! Don't make me laugh! _You _are the woman I love? I'd never love a _coward _like you!"

"B-But Naruto! I'm _not _a coward, I'm…I'm…I…"

"Stop it, Katya. What you're doing is cowardly, ugly. So unlike the Katya I know and love. Wake up, Katya. Wake up…"

--

Katya sighed as she realized it was only a dream.

"A dream!" she laughed. "Haha! I was scared because of a silly dream of Naruto…" she looked down, "Naruto…he called me a coward…no, I won't sit here and pout. I'm not just going to let myself disappear! I'm going to be there when Naruto wipes the floor with Uchiha Sasuke!"

--

Lady Tsunade finished her urgent business in two days, and started the chuunin examination up again. The next match…

"Aburame Shino vs. Ryuga! announced Anko, and the two participants moved up to the ring.

"I won't lose as fast as Hinata, I assure you." Shino said to the mist ninja, as they waited for Anko to start the match.

"Heh. 'I won't lose as fast as Hinata, I assure you'?" Ryuga laughed.

"What's so funny? Don't mock me." growled Shino. "I fought your blind partner, if

you are even close to the same level as her, this will be over fast…for you."

"What's so funny?" asked Ryuga sarcastically, "I'll tell you what's so funny. How can you assure something that you have no control over?" replied Ryuga. "And I can 'assure' you, I'm _not _close to that weaklings level."

"Begin!" yelled Anko, finally tired of their yapping.

"Die!" was the last word Shino heard before he fell back onto the ground.

"Dammit!" cursed Naruto. "We didn't get to see how he fights…_again! _How am I, or Sasuke, supposed to fight him if we know _nothing _of his fighting style?"

Naruto looked around. "Where is Sasuke, anyway? Is he doing _this _again?"

Sasuke walked up behind Naruto, and with a whispered, "boo", Naruto fell over the railing and onto the arena ground, about 45 feet or more from where he was standing seconds ago.

"Sasukeee!!" he yelled up at him, and Sasuke joined him on the arena.

"_Hehe," _laughed Shikamaru, _"serves him right! It's called karma!" _

"I guess you two are already here, but the next match will be Uzumaki Naruto vs. Uchiha Sasuke…please get up, Naruto." at Anko's will, Naruto got up and both him and Sasuke went to the middle of the arena.

They took stance, all their unspoken words were in their faces, (A/N: weird sounding, huh?).

"Begin!"

At the word, both Naruto and Sasuke dashed forward, clashed kunai, and were repelled back so that they were on opposite sides.

"_He has improved." _they both thought.

Sasuke shot forward with a Fire Ball Jutsu, and Naruto dodged and used his Uzumaki Barrage, which Sasuke also dodged. Taijutsu, they moved in for closer combat. Strikes, blocks, evades, all took place in the few moments of their very quick Taijutsu struggle. Flaming balls of…fire came hurling towards Naruto, who quickly dodged one, then a second.

Sakura gasped.

Naruto was hit.

The crowd cheered for Sasuke.

Someone jeered Naruto.

Sasuke's name went up in chant.

"_Why are they so 'for' Sasuke and so against me?" _thought Naruto as he got to his feet, only to be knocked over by a stray fire ball. They cheered louder. Flashbacks from Naruto's past flew through his mind, causing him pain and regret, especially the ones of Katya.

"_Sasuke! Sasuke! Sasuke!" _the whole crowd cheered. Someone else jeered Naruto, who lay flat on his back, thinking of a certain blonde who was absent.

"Katya…" he whispered under his breath.

--

"You have to let me through!" Katayanagi argued with the men standing at the gate.

"I'm sorry, miss, but we cannot do that. The chuunin examinations are under way, and we were told we cannot let anyone through." one of the guards replied.

"That's why I'm here! I need to get it, and if you won't let me…" she pulled out a

kunai.

"Now, now." she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She turned around to see who it was. "Wouldn't it be terrible if my protégé and I had to capture you because you killed two of Konoha's guards?"

"G-Guy-sensei? Lee-sama? W-Why are you…late?" inquired Katayanagi as she put the kunai away, which made the trembling guards stop trembling.

"We could ask you the same question. Now, please stop stuttering, it puts my nerves

on edge." said Guy-sensei in his cool way.

"S-Sorry…Sorry! I mean s-sorry, sorry! Sorry for saying sorry so much!" she apologized.

"It's okay!" he laughed. "I was kidding."

"Hi, Katayanagi. Naruto has been looking for you since three days ago, I think. I'm glad you came, he seemed really worried." Lee walked through with Guy, who told the guards to let Katya through also.

(A/N: ♪♪really cool yet sad/happy music plays♪♪)

"_Naruto!"_ Katya ran through the dark hallway, and in moments she was flooded with the sunlight, and the crowd chanting Sasuke's name. The dark then the sudden light confused her, so she ran almost blindly to the rail and looked down. Naruto lay on his back, Sasuke formed hand signs, and Anko ate dumplings right beside the 'no food or drink' sign that stood in the arena.

"Naruto!" she yelled as she looked straight down at the orange clad boy. Everyone stopped chanting and looked towards the blonde. "Naruto get up! Don't be a coward! Get up and _fight!" _

Naruto's eyes flung open as he looked up at Katya, who looked back down at him. He felt something moist hit his cheek, Katya was crying, and the tears reached him. He stood up, now ready to fight his friend.

--

**CLIFFY!!! Yay, my second update this year is a cliffy! Well, happy new year everybody, and please continue to read my fic in the new year! (guess I should have said that last time :) ) but whatever. Please review, and I'll update soon!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm starting to type this on Gaara's birthday, January 19, so all Gaara fans reading this, (I'm such a big one), call out with me, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAARA SAMA!!!!! **

**I needed to say that!**

**So, enjoy chapter 19, written on the 19th!**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 19 – Sasuke 'Brakes'

--

"Sasuke, you're dead!" Naruto yelled as he dodged a giant flaming dragon that sped out from the hole between Sasuke's fingers. Unfortunately for Naruto, the dragon followed him.

"Dammit!" he screamed as he ran as fast as he could on the upright wall, using his charka so he wouldn't fall, but the dragon was gaining ground; fast. Naruto felt desperate, unable to think of any way to get rid of the giant flaming dragon that had unnaturally large flaming teeth off of his ass. By the time he thought of something, he had not only been able stay three feet in front of the dragon, but he also went all around the arena once, pretty impressive if you think about said dragon.

Naruto put his 'plan' into action, a plan that was not only lame sounding if explained, but also just plain lame.

He stopped running.

Everyone gasped, wondering what the obvious stereotyped 'dumb blonde' (A/N: hey! I'm blonde, too!!!) was thinking, not that anyone could ask him because his body was lost in the flames.

They couldn't see Naruto within the flaming dragon, and most spectators strongly believed he was burnt to a crisp and that there were no remaining parts of him left, all of which who thought that were terribly wrong.

The dragon's tail finally passed where Naruto had stood, and they finally saw the blonde, enclosed in a barrier none were expecting to see.

"_Jee…" _thought Naruto when the dragon had passed, _"Sasuke would have killed me if I hadn't put this barrier up! I should have thought about doing this before I stopped running. He almost ate me!"_

Naruto dropped down to the ground, a new plan in mind. _"Sasuke's controlling the dragon, so if I take him out, the dragon will stop chasing me! Speak of the devil…" _the dragon came rushing towards him again, he barely dodged.

And obviously, Anko had fled to a safer place.

Naruto charged towards Sasuke, and to his surprise Sasuke dodged Naruto's strike, and if Sasuke had really been controlling the dragon, the dragon would either have disappeared or Sasuke would have been too busy controlling it to move. Naruto checked for the dragon, it was still there, looking for Naruto, but still there.

Naruto cursed under his breath, and Sasuke smiled.

"I'm not controlling it, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. "It has a mind of its own, I _can _control it if I want, but it seems more practical to let it chase you." he laughed.

"Sasuke, I thought this was going to be you vs. me, not me vs. the giant dragon that

has burning spit and will fry me to nothing if we make contact! Call it off!"

"You're right, Naruto," the dragon, who had been 20 feet away from Naruto without him noticing disappeared into thin air, and everyone watching gasped, "we'll have a 1 on 1 fight, you and me, just like it was supposed to be."

They both nodded in agreement.

A fierce Taijutsu session came quickly after, but only seemed to last without chakra use for about 30 seconds, because Naruto pulled out his Shadow Clone jutsu and once again tried his Uzumaki Naruto barrage. This time, it hit square on.

Blow after blow was inflicted on Sasuke, who could only watch the many Narutos flying around him, and endure the pain.

Sasuke was then sent flying into the ground, and Naruto went in for the finishing blow to Sasuke's stomach, a little flare he added to the move after he saw Sasuke's move, but not expecting it, Sasuke turned onto his side to get up, and instead of Naruto's attack hitting his stomach, it hit his arm.

"Oops…didn't mean to do that…" Naruto said as he landed on the ground and saw his friend stand up, grasping his arm. Naruto waited, thinking it only fair to let Sasuke have the next move, seeing as Sasuke couldn't perform more than half his jutsus with his broken arm.

--

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled from the stands, as Lee walked up to her.

"Sakura," he said comfortingly, "Sasuke is strong, he still has a good chance at

winning the match."

"I-I know, but it's just that, Lee, it was Naruto who broke his arm." she replied, almost in tears.

"I know." replied Lee, and Sakura stood up and hugged the green clad boy for comfort.

"Oh Lee! I-I w-want to t-t-tell you something, b-but I'm c-crying t-too mu-much right now s-so I-I…c-c-ca-cant!" Sakura cried into his chest.

"Sakura, shh, it's okay…" he stroked her hair comfortingly.

--

Getting tired of standing, Katya surveyed the seats and saw Ayame sitting not far from where she was. She went over to join her.

"Hi, Ayame!" she reached over to hug her. "I missed you, and before you say anything, I'm sorry I left, so please don't talk about it, okay?"

"A-Alright, Katayanagi." replied her friend.

"Where's Cagalli?" inquired Katya as she let go of Ayame and saw that she wasn't

beside her.

"I don't know, I don't think she came." replied Ayame as she took a last look at the entrance.

"Why wouldn't she?"

"I don't know."

--

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to watch that blonde fight?" as Gaara as he turned a corner to join a certain silver haired kunoichi, who looked out longingly at the Arena, which stood fairly far away.

"I don't know…where I belong. So I don't know what I am doing, and it wouldn't be right if I went to watch his fight." she replied, not even looking back at the red head.

"Bull shit." Gaara replied as he put his hand on her shoulder and spun her around and wrapped his arms around her. "You belong in my arms, Cagalli."

Cagalli paused a second, startled at Gaara's strange behavior, then she pushed him away. "What are you doing? T-That's not like you, Gaara."

"I thought about what you said, like how I mean nothing to you anymore, and how

you never wanted to see my face again, but here we are, talking together." he replied.

"I-I acted rashly, and said what I felt at that moment. I-I didn't mean any of that, I swear! I still love you Gaara, and I always will!"

"Even if I kill your two best friends?"

Cagalli paused, once again startled. "I-I don't know…"

"Well, as I was saying, I've thought about what you said that time, and I came up with something." he paused, wanting to make her wonder more. "I came up with something simple. You've always loved me, and always said you have, and all I've done is ignore you, so I came up with this; I'll love you back." he reached his arms out again. "Now, give me the pleasure of my first kiss."

Cagalli slapped his arm away.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"You are _not _Gaara!" she snapped. "I didn't see through it before, because I was scared and alone, wishing for Gaara's company and love, I was _blind. _Show your real face, imposter!"

"But I'm not…"

"Don't try to lie your way out of this, tell me who you are!"

"Fine, fine, fine!" she heard a voice come from around the place the Gaara imposter had come from. "You got me, but it was funny to watch, none the less."

A black dressed boy, looking around the age of 14 or 15, came out from around the corner.

"My name is Kankuro. I believe we met before, am I right, Yakushi Cagalli?" Kankuro undid the transformation jutsu from his puppet.

"Refresh my memory, please?"

"I am Gaara's brother, Kankuro."

"You?"

"Glad you remember me."

"What do you want? And why were you trying to fool me with that fake Gaara?" Cagalli demanded.

"Oh, it was fun, I almost laughed and gave it away, though." replied Kankuro.

"H-How did you know what I said to him earlier?" she demanded.

"Would you believe me if I said Gaara paid me to stock you?"

"No."

"Alright then, that's a lie anyway. I was close by, so I spied on you. After that, I

thought of the perfect joke, 'trick the little kunoichi in love with my brother to think

he loves her back', and emotion that Gaara doesn't know."

"It's not nice to play with peoples feeling like that, Kankuro! I'm sure _you _don't know the meaning of love either, do you?" Kankuro looked at the girl, speechless. She was about to cry, he hadn't meant for her to cry, just to get her angry. "I thought so. B-But love is even worse when the person you love doesn't even know the meaning or love, or how it feels, and couldn't care less about you, or anyone or anything else for that matter! A-And when you are about to brake already and some ass hole comes around and thinks playing with your feelings if funny…" she couldn't continue, she was crying too much.

"S-Stop crying, ok? It was just a joke, I seriously didn't mean any harm!" he tried to comfort her, but in vain. "Stop crying already! Stoppit!"

--

**No, for all of you who are thinking that Cagalli's a baby, she's not. But I shouldn't have to explain why.**

**Anyway, please review, and I'll update soon!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Yay! I've hit 20 chapters! (cheers) So, please enjoy the 20th chappy:)**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 20 – Sasuke's and Naruto's Match Concluded

--

Naruto waited, thinking it only fair that Sasuke makes the next move, in exchange for Naruto breaking his arm. Doesn't seem like a fair trade, really.

After a moment Sasuke pulled out a kunai with his left hand, because it was his right one that had suffered the damage, and charged. Naruto wasn't ready for this next attack, forgetting that Sasuke could really only use Taijutsu now, because Sasuke only had a few techniques that he only needed one hand for.

"_Sensei…I wasn't able to please you enough then, but I saw you in the stands so I know you're watching. Let me show you what you've taught me, Naomi." _with the thought of his new sensei watching him, he placed the kunai back and started to form hands signs that were new to Naruto.

"_Sasuke…" _thought Sasuke's sensei, Naomi, _"Are you trying that? I thought I told you not to!"_

"Time for you to lose, Naruto, and please forgive me if I accidentally kill you, I'll aim for a place less likely to kill you, so your girlfriend Katayanagi doesn't have to exact revenge on me. Avenger's shouldn't get hunted by avengers, it's just not right, especially when it isn't even because of the person that was supposed to be killed. I hope that made sense to you," Sasuke said calmly, _"cause for a moment I didn't, heh, nice Sasuke…" _he thought to himself.

Soon, shots of flames and bolts of electricity sprung out from Sasuke's good arm and swirled around it, and up his arm. He was still making hand signs as this happened, and soon it spread to his body and went down his legs and his other arm, and finally it swirled around his head.

"_Dammit…" _he grunted, _"the curse…it's acting up again…"_

As he thought, the curse started to spread, and it also soon covered his entire body. Now the curse mark had taken over, and flames and electricity curled around his body. He was completely out of control, and all Naruto could do was watch his friend struggle for control, but he soon lost that fight.

"Now you die, fox!" he growled as he moved his arm forward, pointing it at Naruto. He faced his palm towards Naruto.

"No!" Sasuke's teacher said aloud as she stood up. "If he uses that technique with only one arm, the force might rip his arm apart! I've got to stop the match!" She ran towards the Hokage.

"What is it, Naomi?" asked Tsunade, a friend of Naomi's before she had become Hokage.

"Stop you match, you have to!" she yelled. "If Sasuke unleashes that jutsu on Naruto, not only will Naruto die, but Sasuke's arm might rip apart and he'll surely die from blood loss, or he'll be so drained of chakra he'll die from that!"

Lady Tsunade sighed. "I'm sorry, Naomi, I know you like that boy and feel he can go far, but the power to stop the match is out of my control. Sasuke's curse mark has acted up, and he wont stop unless he kills Naruto first."

"No…there has to be a way…"

Sasuke's eyes opened in pleasure as the flames and electricity shot from his palm, towards Naruto. As the beam grew longer, the swirling fire and electricity around his body moved towards his hand, feeding the attack.

"Dammit!" Naruto yelled as he tried to move, but discovered that his legs wouldn't move. _"I won't let Sasuke win! Not like this…not when he isn't even the one fighting!"_

Naruto placed his hands on the ground, making a clone to make it look like he was still there. The clone placed his hands on his head, and the attack hit. An explosion of a large magnitude erupted in the arena, and smoke covered it all. The spectators waited for the smoke to clear, and all were amazed when it finally did.

Naruto had avoided the attack by going underground and coming up behind Sasuke, and he had put a knife to Sasuke's throat. Sasuke sat back against Naruto, breathing heavily as did his friend. The curse mark had receded, and the flames and electricity were gone from around him also. But, some other minor detail that nobody could see from the stands was missed; both were crying.

"_I lost to Naruto…" _Sasuke thought, _"I'll never beat him if I lose to Naruto…"_

"_I won, but I feel as if I robbed Sasuke of something..." _thought Naruto, neither of them moving an inch, _"why do you have to cry, Sasuke? You're making me cry, too…"_

"I will stop the match, seeing as both of them are finished fighting." announced Anko as she returned to the arena, now that the danger was gone. "And, I will announce Naruto as the winner!"

A giant cheer arouse from the stands, everyone cheered them both on, which gave them the energy to stand up.

"Thank you, Naruto." Sasuke wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "You've shown me a flaw in that jutsu, but not only that, you've shown me I need to be a lot stronger if I ever want to beat my brother."

"Sure thing, Sasuke." Naruto smiled, the tears now vanishing from his eyes. "You've shown me I have to get stronger too, even though I won the match, my last move was a lucky one. And I wish you luck with defeating your brother, Sasuke."

They probably would have hugged in pure friendship (A/N: not yaoi-ness) if they weren't being watched by a couple hundred people, their pride got in the way.

"Alright, let's send these two to the hospital!" Anko called for the medics. "They aren't badly injured, except for Sasuke's arm, but move it anyway! And," she called out to the stands, "we will proceed with the next match tomorrow! You may all leave, there is nothing else happening today!"

--

"Naruto won!" Ayame cheered. "C'mon, Katayanagi, let's go down and see him!" Katya nodded in agreement, so they both jumped down off of the stands.

"Naruto! Good job!" Ayame 'high-fived' Naruto when they reached him. "Those was some wicked moves!" she glanced at Sasuke, who stood quietly with his back to them.

"Yeah, congratulations, Naruto!" Katya said happily, hopping he forgot about her running away.

"Why did you leave, Katya?" he asked.

"I-I had to gather my thoughts. But I'm back, so let's enjoy your victory with a trip to the hospital!"

"Some ceremony!" Naruto laughed sarcastically as the medics forced him onto a stretcher.

"Uh, Sasuke?" Sasuke turned around to see Ayame standing behind him.

"What is it?"

"You fought really well; I loved your fire dragon and your last jutsu. You deserved to win, Sasuke!" she tried to cheer him up.

"No, that's not true. Naruto did deserve to win, that's why he won. I let…_it_…take over me, my curse mark. Plus, the loss showed me I have a ways to go still, so I'll

continue to train with Naomi-sensei, if she'll let me."

As he spoke, Naomi ran up to him in tears, and when she arrived she gave him a hug around his neck, because she was much taller than him.

"Sasuke! You bastard! I told you I'd teach you that technique if you promised that

you would practice it with me before you use it in combat! You bastard! Why can't you listen to me?"

"Naomi-sensei, I'm sorry." he said, finding it uncomfortable to talk, seeing as her chest was practically right up against his face. "But I had to, you should know that."

"But you could have died!"

"But I didn't."

"Don't ever do that again, Sasuke!"

"…"

"Got it?"

"Yes, sensei, I promise."

--

"Sasuke…lost…" Sakura gasped, feeling that he only deserved to win, and that Naruto should have lost.

"Sakura, I know it's not really my place, but can I voice an opinion?" asked Rock Lee, who sat next to the emerald eyed girl.

"W-What is it, Lee-san?" she felt as if she was going to cry again.

"I feel that you should be happy that they both did their best, and not matter about who won or lost." Lee advised.

"Yes…thank you, Lee, you've been a big help." Sakura smiled. "Well, I guess I'll have to buy some more flowers!"

--

**For all of you that forgot, Naomi is the teacher that Sasuke couldn't remember her name, just as a reminder.**

**Well, that concludes chapter 20, so please review and I should update quickly!**


	21. Chapter 21

**I'm getting good at this updating fast thing! Yay! And I couldn't think of a name for this chapter, so I picked something random from it:)**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 21 – Miso Sushi

--

"_Damn…why does this crybaby like Gaara anyway?" _Kankuro thought after Cagalli had insisted he take her to dinner, to repay her for making her cry. She didn't usually cry, her only soft spots were her crushes (only one of which she's ever had), because she loved to read tragic/romantic stories, also write them, and always in a tragic/romantic stories, the couple never gets together. That was one of her two soft spots because she always thought her relationship would end up with one of the two, her or who she likes, would die. Her other soft spot was death, not for herself but for the people around her; her friends.

Sometimes she secretly wished that she would die before anyone she loved did, so that she wouldn't have to bear the pain of losing someone she cared deeply for.

"Hello!" Kankuro's voice pulled her away from these thoughts.

"Oh…sorry what?" she said shocked, remembering he was taking her to dinner.

"The waiter is here! What'cha having?"

"Um…" she picked up the menu. "I'll have miso soup and miso sushi." the waiter wrote down her request and left.

"A miso fan, are ya?" Kankuro asked, trying to start a conversation and kill the awkward silence.

"No, not particularly." she replied.

"So why'd ya order all miso stuff?" he inquired.

"Oh, I didn't want to keep you waiting, so I ordered something I haven't tried before.

Well, I have tried miso soup before, but not miso sushi. I wonder what it'll taste like…"

"_I wonder why someone that seems so innocent would like Gaara? He's the complete opposite of innocent." _thought Kankuro.

"What are you thinking about? Your face seems so serious."

"N-Nothing."

"It has to do with me and Gaara, doesn't it?" she leaned on the table with her elbows, making it impossible for Kankuro to dismiss the question.

"Yeah."

"What were you thinking?"

"Well, you two are so different, I was wondering why you like him." he replied, _"She might say because he looks good, but if she wanted that she'd like me! Hehe…"_

"Oh, ok."

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"Why would I? It was only what you were thinking, not an actual question, right?"

"…"dinner finished awkwardly, Kankuro having no interest in trying to start another

conversation with the stubborn girl. But, as a gentleman would, (Kankuro not being much of one himself) he offered to walk her home, but she declined. She explained that she wasn't going home immediately, and that he shouldn't trouble himself. Thinking that best, he went back to his hotel room.

--

"Katya, I'm so glad we made this whole thing up, but you did worry me a lot." said Naruto happily as he walked her home from the Ichiraku Ramen shop, where they

shared dinner together.

"Yes, me too," Katya agreed, "and I promise never to run away again."

"Yup, and I'm glad of that, I wouldn't want to look for you again."

"You looked for me?"

"Yeh, I did with your friend, Cagalli. We searched _everywhere._" she laughed at his funny attempt to emphasize the last word he said.

"Hey, Naruto?" she looked at the ground as she waited for a reply.

"What is it, Katya? Is something wrong?" he inquired, seeing her look awkwardly at the ground in front of her feet.

"Would you like to stay over with me tonight?" the sudden question shocked him, making him pull his hand out of Katya's comforting grip.

"W-What do you mean by that?" the thought of what he thought she meant ran through his head, over and over, that three letter word.

"No, don't take me wrong!" she replied, thinking how he must have taken the question. "I want to know if you'd like to sleepover with me, it wouldn't be just us, Ayame and Cagalli live with me, y'know!"

"O-oh, right…hehe, silly me!" he slipped his hand back into hers. "Yeah, Katya, I'd love that."

--

"Hi, Katya!" Ayame went to greet her friend at their door. "Oh, hello Naruto. How are you?"

"I'm fine." he replied, then Katya explained her idea.

"Oh, what an awesome idea, Katya!" Ayame jumped up at the thought of that mysterious Sasuke coming into her apartment.

"Hey…where's Cagalli?" Katya asked as she showed Naruto in.

"I dunno," Ayame replied, hiding the milk jug in the fridge that she had just been drinking out of, "she hasn't come back yet."

"_I'll call her." _Katya speed dialed Cagalli, a weak 'hello' answered her.

"What's wrong? You sound like you were just run over." Katya asked, jokingly.

"_I feel that way, too."_ replied Cagalli.

"Well, anyway," Katya skipped the subject, wanting to tell Cagalli her idea, "Naruto is staying for a sleepover, and Ayame is calling Sasuke as we speak, so you can call G-someone to come over, too!"

"_I'll be home in a minute, I'll talk to you then." _Cagalli replied and they both hung up.

"Who would she invite?" Ayame asked after a loud 'he said he can come' shriek. They were both silent for a moment as they thought of Gaara, who would never set foot within five feet of their friend, unless in a fight. "Well, she'll decide if she will even invite anyone, we don't know many people here, though, so it'll be hard."

A knock on the door told them that Cagalli was there, and too lazy to fish out her keys to unlock the door herself. They let her in, greeted her and watched her lazily flop down on the nearest couch.

"So, who are you inviting?" Ayame asked quickly, excited that Sasuke was coming in less than 15 minutes, "oh sorry, I mean, you don't have to invite anyone if you don't want…" she tried to cover up her obvious mistake, because Cagalli sighed strongly at the question.

"No, no," Cagalli argued, "it's fine! I'm content with spending the night with only my two best friends, I don't care at all!" but deep in her heart she wished Gaara was there, even if he would be a stick in the mud, or even try to kill them all. Kankuro had given her his number, and he said if she wanted to talk to Gaara he's in the next room, so she could.

"Alright, that's good!" Ayame jumped at the sound of another knock on their door. She happily let Sasuke in. "Hi, hunky!"

"Hi, hottie." he replied with a smile.

"_Have they gone out already? Do they already have nicknames for each other, or was that just a spur of the moment thing?" _thought Katya, intrigued by the nicknames.

Katya made popcorn after telling Naruto to try to cheer Cagalli up, which he tried in vain. Ayame and Sasuke set out Naruto's and Sasuke's sleeping bags, and set up the movie Ayame had asked Sasuke to rent. They were going to watch Yu Yu Hakusho the movie.

"I love Kurama!" Ayame addressed a red haired guy from the movie, who was a demon fox, like Naruto. "Have you see the series, Sasuke?"

"Yes, I have."

"_This is going to rock!" _Ayame smiled slyly.

--

**Thanks for the reviews! And in the next chapter, there are going to be a few references to Yu Yu Hakusho, so for those who don't know what I'm talking about, you can either look up the names in google if you want (google it!) or just ignore them, they have no part in the plot of the storyline. I just picked the movie 'cause I love Yu Yu Hakusho, plus I watched it recently. Please R&R!**


	22. Chapter 22

**As I said before, there will be references to Yu Yu Hakusho, (only in the first few paragraphs), not many though, it's boring if you don't really know what's happing, but read it normally because it don't matter (much)!**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 22 – The Sleepover

--

They all sat down, on either couch or floor, with popcorn, pop, candy, chocolate, chips and whatever else they could find in their apartment. They started the movie. Ayame cheered for Kurama the whole thing, though he only had a small part in the overall movie itself. Hiei, Cagalli's personal favorite guy, turned into a green demon in the movie. They laughed at her because for some reason, Hiei somehow lost his shirt in every battle.

As the movie ended and the credits appeared, everyone yawned and got up to stretch their limbs. Ayame finished their third bowl of popcorn, not willing to waste the delicacy of the over-buttered popcorn, then she put another popcorn bag into the microwave.

They got ready to play 'spin the bottle'.

"I don't think I'll play…" Cagalli got up from the nicely arranged circle of people.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" urged Naruto, a little drunk from the beer he 'snuck' from the liquor store; he used the sexy jutsu (with some clothes on, though) to make himself look 18 to get the liquor. Because of the beer, everyone was a little drunk.

"No thank you, I really don't feel like it right now." She left the warm, welcoming living room of their apartment to go to the cool, lonely bedroom beside it. She closed the door, but she could still hear their laughing.

"Guess the booze got to her." Remarked Sasuke as he spun the empty pop bottle.

"Don't think so," replied Naruto, hoping the bottle wouldn't point to him, "she's sad because Gaara isn't here."

The bottle pointed to Ayame, and she and Sasuke exchanged a long kiss.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Katya agreed, then since she sat next to Sasuke, her turn was next. _"I hope I get Naruto." _She spun the bottle.

Naruto was praying it would land on him, so that he had an excuse to kiss Katya again. It didn't. When the bottle finished spinning, it was pointing towards Sasuke.

"Oooh! Another!" Sasuke rubbed his hands together, more drunk then anyone else.

"Get your own girl!" Naruto yelled angrily. "Katya's mine, you kiss her, you die!"

"Sorry, bud, it's the game!" he leaned over to kiss Katya, but made it a quick one so that Naruto couldn't complain.

"_Stupid Sasuke!" _Naruto thought, making a vow to kiss Katya really long when it was their turn. Ayame sat next to Katya, so she spun the plastic container next. To

Naruto's great disgust, it pointed towards him. _"So I don't get Katya, but I get Ayame? Jeez, I shouldn't have agreed to play this game."_

He kissed her, but in great pain.

But the most comical thing that whole night was, that for the half hour they played 'spin the bottle', Naruto and Katya never kissed.

--

"That was fun!" Sasuke lay back, full of kisses.

"I can't believe I didn't kiss Katya!" Naruto thought aloud, thinking that he really was only thinking, not speaking.

"It's okay, Naruto, I'll kiss you when it's pitch black, a little later. Ok?" she moved beside him.

"We should get Cagalli," suggested Ayame, "so we can play 'truth or dare'."

"I'll get her!" Naruto volunteered, jumping up. He went to what he thought she went and opened the door. He saw a lump in one of the three beds. "She's asleep!" he called to them. "Should I wake her up?" They told him to, incase she wanted to play.

He shook the lump, but aside from his movements the lump didn't move on it's own.

"Cagalli!" he said softly. "We're playing truth or dare, wanna play?" again, she didn't move nor answer. "Dude! Wake up!" he grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled

it off her.

"Uh…Katya?" Naruto called.

"What is it? Is she up?"

"One question. Does Cagalli turn into a pile of clothes while she sleeps, or did she put this here?" confused with the question, the other three went to join him. Sure enough, Cagalli had placed a pile of clothes in her bed to make it look like she was there, asleep.

"Let's go look for her," suggested Ayame, "she wouldn't have bothered to make it look like she was here and sneak out if there wasn't something important for her to do. And when it comes to Cagalli, her 'important' things to do usually get her hurt. So let's go!"

--

"Open up!" Cagalli bashed on the door. "Open up, I know at least one of you are here! Fine, I'll pick the lock, but I'm coming in!"

"Shhh!" she heard a voice from inside.

"Open the door!"

"Coming!" the voice replied. "Jeez, who is out this late?" the door opened, and a dead looking Kankuro answered.

"Where's Gaara?" she demanded. "And I tried to call you, why didn't you pick up?"

"Gaara said he'd kill my phone, maybe me too, if I didn't turn it off when it started to ring." He replied, then yawned. "Gaara's in that extra bedroom, he insisted on getting a two bedroom hotel, so that's what we did."

"Thanks." She ran towards the door Kankuro pointed at, ignoring Temari who was complaining about the midnight awakening. "Gaara!" she knocked quietly on the door, not wanting to piss him off.

The door opened slowly, and from behind the one and a half inches of wood came Gaara, looking pissed.

"What?" was he blunt response.

"Well," she swallowed, seeing the plain peeviness in Gaara's eyes, "I know you don't

like me, actually you might hate me. Katya, my friend and roommate, invited Naruto to her sleepover, and Ayame, my other friend and roommate, invited Sasuke. I felt so jealous that I had to come over and ask if you wanted to come too. We've already watched a movie, and when I left they were playing 'spin the bottle'." She ended her speech with a sigh.

"Do you really like me that much," Gaara replied after a few moments of awkward silence, "or do you want me to come because you're jealous?"

"…" she looked at the floor. "I am jealous, and that is part of the reason I want you to come but…" she looked into the two blue eyes that studied her, "I love you, and I don't want to always be alone and wondering what you're doing now, or anything else like that!"

"No, I won't go."

"But…"

"I don't want to join in on your stupid gatherings. Leave." He closed the door in her

face.

"Don't close the door on me, Gaara! Bastard, open this door!" she slammed her fist on it. "Fine, ignore me!" she turned around to leave, but she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and out of reflexes she spun around.

"You'll never gain my trust if you call me a bastard and slam on my door all the time, you know."

"What'd you want?" she asked sourly.

"I thought you wanted me to come over, didn't you? Or did that change with the

loud thump?"

--

Flashback:

--

"Temari?" Gaara opened his door a crack, so that he could see his brother and sister. "Kankuro?"

"Eep!" Kankuro gasped and ran to the corner farthest from Gaara.

"Y-Yes, Gaara?" Temari asked hesitantly. Gaara opened his door the rest of the way.

"I've never talked to you like this before," he started, "and I'm doing so now because I've thought about…life. At first I thought that my purpose in life was to kill everyone else in the world." Temari nodded in agreement. "But what will I do if I do kill everyone?"

His question seemed so kind and thoughtful, that Temari wished she could answer it in a nice way, but she couldn't think of any way to do so.

"I don't know, Gaara." she replied. "I guess there wouldn't be anything you _could _do…"

"Exactly." he replied. "And it is very unlikely that I will kill everybody, but if I threw my life away trying to do so, my life would still mean nothing because I could never accomplish my goal. Right?"

"R-Right…"

"So…" there was a long pause that lasted almost five minutes. In those five minutes, you couldn't even hear any of the three of them breath. "Temari…I'm going to give 'love' another try." he choked on the word 'love'.

"That's good, Gaara!" was the only thing she could think of saying.

"And Kankuro," he turned to his scared brother who trembled in the corner, "I won't kill you now, but if my experiment doesn't work, I will go back to killing people, and you two will be my first victims."

--

End Flashback:

--

"I'm so glad you are going to try to love again, Gaara!" Cagalli walked beside the black clad boy she was so deeply in love with.

"I have one question, though," he said as he rubbed his hands together, a little chilled from the night air, "why did you yell at me? Do you not 'like' me anymore?"

"No, that's not it!" she sighed, remembering how mad she got. "No, I was only angry because you said you wouldn't come with me…I didn't mean to call you that either."

"That's good."

--

"OMG!" Ayame gasped as they saw who they were looking for walking towards their apartment with her crush. She turned to Katya and whispered, "OMG! Do you see that? OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! Etc."

"Stop 'OMG'ing already!" Katya clasped her hand over Ayame's mouth so she could hear their conversation.

"I feel happy for her." Naruto whispered to Sasuke.

"She's hot, _really _hot…silver hair is so hot, even Kakashi-sensei's." Naruto looked weirdly at Sasuke, who shrugged.

"What?" he asked. "I'm not gay, I'm just saying." Naruto replied with a 'suuuureee', then they all listened to the two talk.

"How do you play 'truth or dare'?" asked Gaara, not so informed with that game. "I've never even heard of it."

"Well…" she went into a deeply short explanation of 'truth or dare'.

"Oh…so you could make someone do _anything?" _he asked, some idea's running through his head.

"Well, yes and no. You can tell them to do anything, but if they _really _don't want to, they can drop out for the rest of the game or round, depending how you play it." she replied, glad to be _finally _talking to him.

"Alright," Katya whispered to the other three, "let's go back so we're there before them."

--

**End of Chapter 22! You know, my little sister is reading this fic, and she keeps bugging me to type. Just now she's like 'are you finished chapter 22?' and ALL THE TIME she's like, 'type!' or something of that sort. **

**Well, please review:)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Thank you all for reviewing, and thanks for the ideaa!!!!! I finished reading the reviews I got, I couldn't help myself from typing! (I chose you guys over gaiaonline, ok? It's a big loss, but I'll cope…I think) jk. I LOVE writing, and I'll get into Ayame and Cagalli's past more, maybe not in this chapter, but maybe I will…**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 23 – Truth Or Dare-The Kiss

--

Cagalli arrived back at their apartment with Gaara, who was all of a sudden very quite when they reached there. She opened the door and went in, she heard the commotion and laughing of truth or dare.

She walked into the room they were in, Gaara walked quietly behind her.

"Hello," she said, all eyes turned to the two, "I left for awhile…"

"I can see," Ayame burst out, "but since when was Gaara so social?"

"You call coming here social?" he asked, already slightly annoyed.

"Well, I guess not. But it's more social than I've ever seen you. Talking to me now in this way also says that something has changed about you…" she walked over to him and started to examine him. "You didn't cut your hair…and you're wearing the same bland black clothes…so you changed your attitude?"

"How could you tell?" he asked sarcastically.

"Oh, I dunno," she replied, sarcasm oozing out of her voice as well, "just a hunch."

"Will you stop that?" she pulled Ayame away for a moment. "He's finally giving love a second chance! Will you stop teasing him like that?"

"I wouldn't really call it teasing, but if it pleases you, alright," she turned around to go back, but then stopped, "just don't forget our promise."

She left.

"_Our promise? Why did she bring that up now?" _thought Cagalli. _"Is it because Gaara is here? She's so stupid…I'd never brake that promise."_

She went back.

Gaara, being slightly curious had heard what they had said. _"I couldn't care less what that brunette thinks of me…but I said I'd give…it…another try, so I'll at least try _

_to like this other girl. I guess…"_

"Wanna play truth or dare, Cagalli? You too, Gaara?" asked Naruto, annoyed at losing Ayame, because it was her turn, and the game couldn't commence.

"Sure!" Cagalli replied. "Gaara?"

"Alright, it might be alright. I'll give it a try…" they both sat down on the floor, and they continued.

"Have a beer, Gaara!" Ayame handed a can to him. Naruto had gotten more booze from the local liquor store.

"No thank you…" he replied, she shrugged and offered one to Cagalli, who accepted.

"Alright, I believe it was my turn." Ayame rubbed her chin as a smile of pleasure came across her face. Naruto swallowed uneasily, because she was directing that

smile to him. "Naruto."

"I uh…" he waited, wondering which she wanted him to say. _"If I say truth, she might make me say something to embarrass me in front of Katya, or if I say dare, she might dare me to do something I'd _like _to do, but…well y'know. That's the game, _

_I guess…"_

He sighed. "Dare."

"Alright then!" her smile grew even more devious. "I dare you to kiss…Sasuke. For

30 seconds minimum."

"WHAT?" he screamed.

"C'mon, I dared you, you hafta or you're out." She leaned back; Sasuke looked uneasily at Naruto, who was _actually_ thinking about what to do.

"_I still want to play! But Sasuke is the last person here I wanna kiss here! Aside from that creepy sand nin, anyway…" _he swallowed, glanced at Sasuke, then Ayame and back to Sasuke. _"What do I do?"_

"Hey," Gaara said all of a sudden, breaking Naruto thought process, "wouldn't it be more fun if you _can't _back down, and you _have _to do or say _whatever _the person says? I think so."

"That would be more fun," admitted Ayame, "but you can't say anything that involves killing someone here, got it?"

"Did I ever suggest that?" Gaara asked.

"Sure, new rule, starting now," announced Ayame, "you have to do whatever the person said."

"But that means I _have _to kiss Sasuke!" Naruto cried, now totally against the idea.

"Kiss him."

"I don't want your germs, Naruto! Just kill yourself so I don't have to suffer!" said Sasuke, also against the idea.

"If it meant not having to kiss you, I would, but I still want to become Hokage, and…well I want to do other things too…" he secretly glanced at Katya, then looked back at Sasuke. "But I guess…I have…no choice."

He leaned over, and even though he had plenty of warning, Sasuke was still shocked as Naruto kissed him, so shocked that he didn't move for the 30 required seconds. After that, they both ran to the bathroom.

"Gross!" they heard Sasuke yell.

"Disgusting!" Naruto cried.

"You're the one who kissed _me!"_

"Ayame's the one who _dared _me!"

"_I really can't believe Naruto just kissed Sasuke, that's really weird." _thought Katya, who took another small sip of her first beer. _"Man, this stuff is good. I've never tried _

_beer before." _

They came back, and the game continued. Dares were followed through, secrets told, a whole lot of alcohol drunk, a few shirts thrown off, Naruto's and Sasuke's mainly, the girls were too chicken, and Gaara was too embarrassed.

They looked at the clock.

"It's _really _late…" said Sasuke. "4 in the morning…"

"It sure is." agreed Ayame.

"I'm sleepy…" said Naruto, a few too many bottles of booze beside him.

"I'm not surprised!" yelled Katya, she began to count them. "How many did you

drink? 8…9…"

"…"

"You drank _17_?" she yelled, falling backwards in shock. "Are you _nuts?"_

"You drank 14…" said Naruto, defending himself in a drunk manner.

"I can hold my liquor, there's a difference! You've had to run to the bathroom _7 times!" _she argued.

"Maybe it's time we get some sleep…" suggested Sasuke.

"Easy for you to say." replied Gaara, who just finished another bottle. "If I get drunk, which fortunately hasn't happened yet tonight, I have to sit up all night and deal with

the agony of it."

"Sucks, man." said Sasuke, laying back, ready to sleep there if need be.

"We should sleep…" said Cagalli, and they all hit the sack.

--

**Thankies for reading, and well…I won't spoil! But please review!!!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Omg! Sorry for taking so long to update, but no ideas really came to my mind…writers blocks suck…anyway! Enjoy! (I say that a lot, don't I? …)**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 24 – Cagalli's Past

--

Two more days until the next rounds of the chuunin examination, that's what Lady Hokage had said, it would have been sooner, but again she had something to take care of. People were starting to wonder what could be so much more important than the chuunin exams.

Some didn't care, and actually welcomed the brake, and the time to train. Others didn't like it, they were too anxious. But then some were too hung-over to give a shit.

Cagalli sat with Naruto, finally over their hangovers. They looked at the water in the river run by, and they talked of the chuunin exam.

"Cagalli?" asked Naruto.

"What is it?" she asked, curious about his tone.

"I have a personal question to ask you…" he said, she listened, "why…why on earth

do you love Gaara?"

"Hn?" she said, leaning back on the bench they sat on. "Well…you love Katya, right?" he nodded. "Then you should know that there isn't any way to explain it; you just do. Your heart knows, and in they way your chest aches when you think of the person and they aren't there with you, it's as if it could explain your feelings better than you could. If only it could speak."

"I know what you mean." he agreed. "But…you had to start liking him somehow. You couldn't have just seen him and fallen in love with him, I mean; he was so anti-social before like, yesterday or so."

"Yeah I guess so. It would seem weird…" she replied, thinking back. "I can tell you, if you really want."

"I was six…" she began.

--

Flashback:

--

Cagalli ran through the streets of Sunagakure. She was being chased by a mob of mad villagers. ((A/N: makes you think of Frankenstein, doesn't it?))

She had been practicing near the village, and a stray ball of fire had hit a house sending it up in flames. Only one person had escaped the flames from that house; four others had died. Immediately the neighborhood got mad and started to swear at her, and when someone came at her with a club she began to run, which started the chase.

The villagers were gaining on her; after all, she was only six years old. She felt she should fight back, but knew she was outnumbered and didn't want to kill anyone else. Cagalli began to wear out. Her house was not too far away, but it seemed like forever until she would close that door and let her brother handle the mob.

Cagalli had been adopted into a medical ninja family. Her brother was adopted into that family also, but from a different family. Her brother always protected her, he was a ninja, and he taught her everything she knew.

Except for her 'powers'. Like Gaara, Cagalli had a demon placed inside her. The Kazekage had thought, 'if this works, why only have one when we can have two

super ninja? And if they go out of control, well, it's just two children…' So six and a half years ago, a team from Sunagakure set out to the land of fire, and they heard the legend of a phoenix.

They captured this phoenix, and like with Gaara, they placed it into a young girl. This girl was named Cagalli.

They thought, that she should have a different upbringing than Gaara, to test various ways of producing the ultimate ninja. So she was given to a medical ninja family. They gladly took her in, plus they already had a son, not of their own, though.

She saw her house up ahead, but she was too tired to continue. She collapsed on the ground.

"She's down! Kill her!" yelled a man in the mob.

"She killed my baby! She should die too!" yelled the woman whose house Cagalli had burned.

They were now around her, kicking her around like dirt.

"Why did Lord Kazekage let this girl roam free anyway?" asked another.

"Stop it." they heard someone say.

"Whose against this girl's death?" asked someone else. "They should die too!"

A small redheaded boy squeezed his way through to the middle of the circle, to where Cagalli was.

"Are you ok?" he asked, she didn't answer, she thought it was someone mocking her. "It'll be fine now. You people…" he turned to the mob.

"It's that kid!" exclaimed someone in the crowd. "He'll kill us all!" with that comment everyone scattered. Soon the street was clear of people, and only Gaara and Cagalli

remained there.

"Why did you save me?" she asked as she sat up.

"Because," Gaara replied, "Yashamaru would've wanted me to."

"Whose that?"

"Never mind," he smiled, "so why were those people attacking you like that?"

"I accidentally burned down a lady's house," she looked grimly at the ground, "and killed her husband and three children."

"That's terrible…"

"You can kick me if you want, like they did." She replied.

"I wouldn't do that." He helped her off of the ground. "That's mean. It was an accident after all, right?" she nodded.

He helped her home, then said bye and left. She swore to herself that night that she would never forget him, ever."

--

"Oniisan?" she said to her brother the next day.

"What is it, sis?" he replied.

"Why do people die?"

"Well…" he thought for a moment. "It's the nature of things. That's just how it works.

If we all lived forever, then all the bad people would live forever too."

"Yeah I suppose…" she mused for a minute. "So why don't the bad people just die?"

"We're not lucky enough." He replied with a smile.

--

End Flashback:

--

"No offence," said Naruto, "but that sounds like a happy ending."

"But it's not done." She replied. "See, one year from then, my oniisan left me to find a 'new life'."

"What do you mean?"

"He joined Orochimaru."

"Oh…is he still alive?"

"Yes, he's still alive. And from what I gather, he's pretty high ranked." She replied.

"So is that why you're a ninja…to kill him for betraying you?" he asked.

"No way!" she gasped. "I'd never kill oniisan! I became a ninja so I…could bring him back. But now I see…Gaara won so easily in the preliminaries that I know I'll never

get to be strong enough to bring him back. I _thought _I could at one point, but now…"

"You lost from exhaustion, right?"

"Yeah…I can't sleep at night." She replied. "Every night, I get one, sometimes two hours of sleep. I can't fight because of that, I always collapse if I train for more than an hour and a half."

"What was that technique you used in that match?" he asked. "Does it have something to do with that phoenix inside you? Like my fox does things for me and that raccoon does stuff for Gaara?"

"Yeah." She replied. "Because of that phoenix, it's name is Kuraikaton, meaning 'dark flame', I can control fire. I use a simple Katon jutsu, and I can mold the flames into whatever I want. If I make the flames hotter, they eventually turn blue."

"I saw that." He said. "So you love Gaara because he saved you?"

"…"

"?"

"Yeah…"

"_That was an unsure answer…" _he thought. _"There must be more to that story than what she told me. It sure seems like it…oh well."_

"What's your brother's name? You always call him oniisan…" he asked.

"Oniisan's name is…" she paused for a moment, "Yakushi Kabuto."

--

**Thanks for reading! **

**For that phoenix's name, I just combined 'kurai' meaning 'dark', and 'katon' meaning 'fire'. So I'm not so sure it would actually mean 'dark flame', it just sounds cooler than 'dark fire'. **

**And for all of you who don't know, 'oniisan' means 'brother'. **

**Please review!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Alright! I know I haven't updated in so long, but I was in Ireland for three weeks! I apologize to my great fans, who have read this far in my fic Unwanted, and I thank you for your patience. I appreciate the reviews saying to update, even though that means you're getting impatient sometimes. I'll update more now that I'm home! Happy to be here too! ;)**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 25 – Lee vs. Ayame – Naomi's Dead Son

--

"Sorry for all the inconvenience," stated Lady Hokage the day the chuunin exams continued, "but we will now commence with the chuunin examinations."

"Thank you, Lady Hokage," announced Anko, "we will therefore continue with the next matches. The next match will be Lee vs. Ayame!"

The two walked to the middle of the arena.

"_That guy…" _thought Ayame. _"He's super fast. I better not let him get too close…"_

"_Ayame…" _thought Lee. _"She used that water shield technique to block all of Temari's attacks and it didn't seem as if it fazed her. She has an immense amount of chakra. I won't try the lotus again this time, though. Heh, let's do this!"_

--

"Katya?" asked Naruto as he approached her. She was overlooking Konoha from the top of the Hokage Mountain.

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" she asked. "I won't miss your match, don't worry."

"That's not what I'm worried about." he replied as he stood next to her. "I just don't want to lose you again. Don't leave my sight for long, ok?"

"Sure, if that's what you want." replied Katya with a smile. "I've never told you this before…but…"

"But what?" he asked as he noticed she wasn't going to continue.

"Never mind, it's of no importance." she took hold of his hand. "Let's go back to the arena, ok?"

"Sure."

--

"Sasuke?" he turned around to see who had called him. He sat at the back of the arena watching the match.

"Oh, Naomi-sensei, what's up?" asked Sasuke.

"Why are you running 'round like this with your cast?" she asked, a tone of concern in her voice. "You should be in the hospital resting, not going about daily life!"

"Stop worrying about me, sensei." he replied. "I'm fine. My arm is fine, too. It'll be healed sooner or later, and I don't have to fight today anyway. I'm alright."

"You say that now…"

"And I'll say it later too." he interrupted her. "_I'm fine _sensei. Why are you treating me like a child?"

"Because…" she replied slowly, "you remind me of my dead son…" Sasuke looked at her, shocked. "My son was 15 when he died. He was a ninja; therefore he died in a battle. I had taught him everything he knew, he never went to the academy. So

when he died…I thought it _my _complete responsibility that he died. And he looked…almost like you."

"…"

"Not only that…you act exactly the same way he did." she continued. "You have something driving you forward, revenge for your fallen clan. He also had something driving him forward. It wasn't as crucial as yours, but he wanted to prove himself capable of becoming a ninja. His older sister, who I have no idea where she is, said he was too lazy to ever become a ninja. From a sibling, that's hard. He never studied, but he was really good…"

"…"

--

"_Leaf hurricane…" _Ayame dodged by an inch.

"_Damn…he's faster than I first assumed…" _she thought, trying to think of a good jutsu to use in the situation she was in. She formed multiple hand signs, then a stream of water started to gush out of her mouth. It hit Lee straight on.

"You can't beat me with your pitiful range of attacks." Mocked Ayame.

"We'll see." Replied Lee.

Ayame dashed away from Lee, trying to keep some distance between them, but Lee closed it again in seconds. _"Leaf…" _his technique was interrupted. She dodged above, landed upside down on his shoulders, spun him around and flew him across the field. Ayame again formed many speedy hand signs and launched a spike of rock, which she got from the field underneath her.

Lee dodged the giant spike that was hurled towards him, and again closed the distance between them.

"They're evenly matched." Stated Guy to Kakashi.

"Not quite," replied Kakashi, "that Ayame girl…it looks to me that she'll win. Nothing personal though, Guy."

"…" Guy looked down at the brunette in the arena. _"Dammed Kakashi!" _he cured in his head.

Ayame had been forming hand signs, so she was caught off guard from Lee powerful kick to her stomach, and she was pushed backwards before she fell to the ground in pain.

"Ow!" she coughed up some blood. Looking up at the green clad genin, she smiled and wiped her mouth. "You won't win that easily." After forming only a few lightning fast hand signs, water formed around her arm, taking the shape of a dagger. She stood up. Still smiling, she ran the blade of the water dagger across her finger. Blood oozed out of the small wound.

Lee looked at her funny.

"It's razor sharp," she exclaimed, "you ready, leaf boy?"

--

**Sorry for the short chapter, but I just wanted to get one out, y'now? Well the next one will be longer! Please review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Omg when was the last time I updated anyway? Well thank you everyone who told me to keep updating, but don't worry, I'm sure to post something if I decide not to write on this fic anymore…YEAH RIGHT! Like I'd ever stop this one! I love it, so you can be sure, if I don't update for a really long time, I'm either 1) sick 2) sick as a dog 3) bored 4) working on another project 5) on a bad streak of writers block 6) dead. Anyway, chapter 26, finally!**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 26 – Akira Ryuga

--

Naruto and Katya walked hand in hand towards the chuunin examinations arena. Few people were on the street; everybody was either at the arena, or inside because it was an extremely hot day.

Naruto hoped it would cool down before his match. Yeah, right. It was just past noon, the hottest time of the day was just approaching.

Katya stopped suddenly. She gazed out at the river that was close by.

"We didn't have rivers in my village." She thought aloud, not realizing she did.

"Iruka…" Naruto said after a moment, "he loved this river." Thought recently, Naruto hadn't mentioned his dead sensei, he constantly thought of him. He still missed him, but he was over crying and such. He knew that Katya had helped with that.

Katya realized now that she had thought aloud. "When I was young, I always dreamed of rivers. We don't – er – didn't have rivers in my village."

"Really?" he asked, "Rivers are beautiful. They continually flow, kind of like life. Things keep going even if someone dies, and there are always small children that will grow up to be the adults who have their own children."

"Yup, that's true." Agreed Katya. They stood in silence for a while, Naruto thought of Iruka and Katya. He remembered when Katya had told him about her past, why were so many people's lives ruined and terrible? Why were a select few people in the world so badly off? He thought about that for a while, then a thought came to his mind. Katya was a mass murderer. He looked awkwardly at Katya, who stood with a smile on her face as she looked towards the rushing river. She saw his looking at him and she turned her head, smiled, and looked back.

The thought disturbed him; of course, he knew that before, but hadn't actually thought of it. She killed the inhabitants of her whole village, and left, also killing her fiancée, and yet now, she looked so carefree. He had terrible scars from his child hood imbedded in him, but he hadn't killed anyone like she had, and she'd killed _everyone _in her village.

"Katya…" his excess breath slid out from between his lips after he spoke her name. She looked at him, and by his eyes, she knew he was going to ask something important.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Well, I've been thinking," he replied, "when you were young, you said you killed everyone in your village after an older you took over, but that older you was you _now, _wasn't it?"

She looked back at the water and didn't reply for a very long time. "No," she said finally, "no, it wasn't me. See, I didn't tell you the _whole _story, I stopped at when I left the village, but years passed between when I left my village and now, too."

Naruto looked at her, completely interested in what she said and would say next.

"I can't explain it now," she said, "you have a match to go to." He gasped, he had completely forgotten. "Let's go." They walked again towards the arena.

--

"You ready," asked Ayame, smiling at her new weapon, "leaf boy?"

Lee grit his teeth, his taijutsu against a sword, that didn't seem like the best idea. But what else could he do?

"_If all he has up his sleeve is taijutsu, he's toast!" _Ayame licked her lips, the thought of plump red jam on top of a crispy toast. She really felt like eating now. Lee made his move, he charged in, aiming a kick for underneath her chin, but she saw that move before. Ayame blocked his kick with her sword arm, but the force still sent her flying into the air, and while airborne, she shot a couple bursts of water down at Lee. He dodged the first but the second hit him dead on. She landed not far from him, and she looked down at the soaked body of her opponent. He stood up and shook himself off slightly.

"_Wow," _she thought, _"why are drenched guys always so freaking hot?" _

They both were tired, and were well aware of it. Ayame was getting low on chakra, and if she was going to end this at all, she had to do it now. Ayame noticed her finger, which she had split open, that gave her an idea.

"It's been fun!" she called to Lee as she began her many hand signs, "but you and I

both know that this'll end soon, 'cause we're both running on empty." Lee just watched her as he panted slightly for air. "But unlike you, I've still got," a wide smile crossed her face, "enough chakra to win this!" she pressed her hand with her bleeding finger onto the ground, writing appeared in a circle around her hand on the dirt, and suddenly a burst of smoke shrouded her completely. A large snake, made of water, arouse from the ground. It was around 40 feet long.

Lee looked at the snake, terrified. Ayame was right, he had about enough juice left in him for one or two more leaf hurricanes, then he was done. Ayame finished off the match with a mighty strike, then the arena was cleared, while Lee was taken to hospital.

--

"Lee!" called Sakura as she jumped out from her seat and ran towards the exit. She dashed as fast a she could to where the entrance to the hospital was, so she could see Lee. She made it just in time. "Lee!" she panted. The medics were walking with Lee in a stretcher.

"Sakura!" he said, sitting up, the medics tried to keep him lying down but he jumped up to see her.

"Oh, Lee!" she wrapped her arms around his skinny body.

"Sakura…" he stroked her hair.

"Lee are you alright?" she asked, looking up at him. He smiled and nodded. Sakura smiled back; '_how nice he looks' _she thought, _"even after that intense battle." _Without even knowing it, Sakura kissed him, and Lee blushed red as a cherry, then he kissed her back. "Get better," she said, removing her arms from around him, "I'll go watch Naruto's match, but I'll come see you as soon as it's over." With a smile she ran off.

--

"Good then!" Anko waved a fan at her face; it was getting terribly hot that day, the worst of it just hitting the streets of Konoha. "We'll get on with the next match. Ryuga vs. Naruto, please come to the arena!"

"Good luck," Katayanagi kissed Naruto's cheek, "and be careful, we don't know how this guy fights, ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful!" he smiled, then turned on his heel and ran through the hallway that led to the arena. Halfway there, he saw Sasuke standing against the wall. Sasuke turned his head towards him, and all Sasuke wanted to say Naruto understood immediately, without a word being spoken. Naruto nodded, and ran past.

He reached the arena and ran to join Anko and Ryuga who were already there. Naruto looked at Ryuga. When they had met him in the forest of death, and before, in the preliminaries, and his last match, he had worn a mask, but now he didn't. Naruto could see his face. Two deep blue eyes looked towards him, almost cutting right through him. His hair was short and white, and it fell loosely around his face. His eyelids were colored red, and there was a scar from the end of his right eye going down almost to his chin. He looked around 20 years old.

"_He's the guy," _thought Naruto, _"that injured Hinata and Shino, and captured Sakura. In the forest he didn't seem like much of a treat, and fled very quickly, but in the preliminaries he was unbelievable, against Shino too. I don't know what to expect, but here goes."_

"Begin the match!" yelled Anko.

"I won't promise," said Naruto, hoping to get a reply from Ryuga, "no, I won't promise I'll beat you. But I will promise this, I'll fight you as well as I can!"

Ryuga smiled, and a laugh escaped his mouth. Naruto glared at him. Ryuga's smile disappeared. "You expect me to settle for any less?" he asked; Naruto smirked. "You were weaker in the forest, when we last met face to face." Continued Ryuga. "I can see, just by looking in your eyes, that you have become much stronger. What has made you grow so much in that short amount of time, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto smiled, he knew the answer instantly. "My friends." He replied. "My friends made me stronger, and because of them I won't disappoint you, Ryuga."

"Call me Akira Ryuga." He smiled; Naruto gasped.

"A-Akira?"

"That's what I said."

"_Katya's last name is Akira!" _thought Naruto.

"Let's do this." Exclaimed Ryuga, drawing a sword from its sheath, then he ran his finger over the blank headband that was tied around his neck.

--

Katya studied Ryuga as well as she could as he and Naruto exchanged words not hearable from up there. When he drew his sword, Katya gasped. She knew the sword, and now, she knew the man too.

--

**Cliffy! Yes, I know I said I'd make a longer chapter, oh but this was just a great place to stop! Next time.**

**Thanks for reading and please review:)**


	27. Chapter 27

**Thank you for all the reviews I received, now here's chapter 27!**

**--**

Unwanted

Chapter 27 – Uncle

--

"T-That's…!" gasped Katayanagi as she stood spellbound, staring down at Ryuga who stood face-to-face with Naruto. When Ryuga drew his sword, Naruto smirked.

"This'll be a blast!" exclaimed Naruto, forming the same sequence of hand signs he'd done many times in the past. Four clones of him appeared. The four clones instantly attacked, and while they kept Ryuga busy Naruto formed four more clones, and they lined up beside him, placing their right hands on the 'Naruto' next to them.

Hand signs flashed with Naruto's hands, and then the last clone Naruto had sent forwards was gone. All the left hands of the other four clones shot up, as did both of Naruto's. Lightning shot out from all the 'Naruto's' hands, towards Ryuga.

Ryuga tried to dodge, but the bolts followed him.

"Crap!" yelled Ryuga, and to Naruto's great surprise Ryuga changed directions in the air; now he was heading straight for him. He ducked behind one of his clones, and it disappeared instead, the bolt of lightning that had shot out from that clone's hand disappeared too. Ryuga swung his sword to the side, hitting to more of the clones and killing them.

Two more bolts of lightning were speeding towards Ryuga; he avoided them one more time and killed the last clone. Now there was only one blast left. It circled around and came back for him.

Naruto stood up from the ground and looked for Ryuga; he couldn't see him, he'd jumped again in the air. Naruto looked up just in time to see Ryuga's sword headed for him. He ducked with his hands on his head; the sword scraped his knuckle as it whizzed past.

The last bold of lightning finally collided with Ryuga, but he'd blocked it with his left hand.

"Pretty good," replied Ryuga as his arm fell limp.

"You too," replied Naruto, licking his hand. "Tell me first…"

"Y'know?" interrupted Ryuga. "I hate it when in matches people stop to talk!" Ryuga charged, and slid past Naruto, grasping the hilt of his sword. "I'll tell you anything you want if you can beat me!"

Naruto pulled out a kunai; not a good match-up for a sword. He hesitated. Suddenly Naruto felt cold steel on his neck. He dare not even swallow it was piercing his skin so closely.

"I win," stated Ryuga.

"_Damn it!" _thought Naruto, staring at the clone in front of him that held the sword. Ryuga made him think that was him, but it was really only a clone, _"Beat with my best technique? How pitiful…" _

"Ryuga is the winner!" exclaimed Anko, and Ryuga let Naruto fall to his knees.

"I can't believe I lost that," Naruto whispered to himself. He turned around to see Ryuga walked off the arena already; his clone was gone and his sword returned to its sheath. "Wait!" called Naruto as he got up and ran to Ryuga.

"What is it?"

"Please tell me! D-Do you know someone named Katayanagi?" he asked, Ryuga stopped walking.

"That's right," Ryuga said to himself, "this is the boy hanging out with her all the time."

"So you do know Katya?"

"Maybe I do, what of it?"

"B-But your last name is the same as hers, she told me she killed her whole clan! And your headband around your neck is the same as hers!" Ryuga glanced at his headband; his was exactly the same as Katya's, except hers had 'death' written on it in blood.

"She likes to exaggerate things, she didn't kill her whole clan," replied Ryuga finally. They both looked up as Katya came running through the opening that led to the stands towards them.

"R-Ryuga!" she gasped, she got to them and stopped running, out of breath.

"I have to go," replied Ryuga.

"S-stop!" gasped Katya; she stood up straight and looked into Ryuga's dark blue eyes. "Why are you here?"

"To fight, of course," he replied.

"But you're already a jounin, why come to these chuunin exams?" she sighed. "More to the point, I thought you were dead!"

"Well, as you can see, I'm not," he replied, pushing past her.

"Stop! I need to talk to you!" she grabbed his arm.

"At least come back up to the stands so they can start the next match," stated Ryuga.

"But you fight again next," Naruto pointed out.

"Oh, they'll call intermission," replied Ryuga. Katya and Naruto followed Ryuga back up to the stands so they could talk and be out of the way. Sure enough, Anko called intermission for half an hour for lunch.

"You're a jounin?" asked Naruto, but Ryuga ignored him.

"What did you want to ask me, Katayanagi?"

"How are you alive?" she inquired, "I remember seeing your body laying still, imbrued in blood! Your _own _blood! How are you alive?"

"You didn't kill me," he replied, "though you thought you did. I was unconscious, and you left me, thankfully for me. When I woke up; I looked around but in the end everyone was dead."

"So…"

"I have no more to say," Ryuga replied as he walked off.

"That guy's an ass!" exclaimed Naruto.

"That guy's my uncle," replied Katya; Naruto looked at her.

"Really?" she nodded.

"Yeah, he's my uncle," she said again, "he cared about me, but he was always away so I didn't see him much. I guess he really hates me now for killing my father; his brother. They were best friends."

"Oh, ok…" Naruto sighed. He was tired; he wanted to go to sleep.

--

**There's chapter 27, kind of short. But I'm a lot busier now, so the chapters might stay around this length, maybe a little longer if I'm lucky. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review! **


	28. Chapter 28

**Again, thanks everyone for reviewing, and here's the next chapter.**

--

Unwanted

Chapter 28 – Finished

--

"The next match is Ryuga vs. Gaara!" Anko called out after intermission. Ryuga instantly appeared in the arena, but there was no sign of Gaara.

"Where is he?" inquired Naruto, surprised Gaara wasn't there yet.

"I have no idea," replied Katayanagi. "I haven't seen Cagalli either."

"You don't think…" Naruto was cut off by someone calling Katayanagi's name. It was Ayame.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" she slapped Naruto on the back.

"Not much…" replied Naruto, now in even more pain than before.

"You haven't seen Cagalli recently, have you?" asked Katya, hoping Ayame would know. Ayame merely shrugged.

"Why do we care where Gaara is anyway?" Naruto thought out loud. "I mean, it's not like he's our _friend _or anything."

"Alright!" they all heard Anko yell. "Gaara isn't here, so that counts as forfeit. Ryuga is the winner! The next match will therefore be Ayame vs. Ryuga!"

"See you two later!" Ayame dashed past them, and went into the exit that Naruto and Katya had come out of before. She quickly came running into the Arena, and stood in front of Ryuga, not the least bit intimidated. She actually wore a smirk on her face.

"Ok then, let's get this final match underway!" called Anko. "Begin!"

Chakra pouring out of her, Ayame wasted no time as she formed quick hand signs. A giant ball of water shot out from her mouth. Ryuga drew his sword and held it out; the water was sliced in two when it collided with it.

Ryuga had payed no attention to Ayame as soon as the water ball came flying towards him. But now his eye caught her, she was making the same sequence of hand signs, and another water ball came towards her. He again held his sword out, but before it could hit his cold blade, he was hit before by something from behind. The force sent him flying forwards, then colliding with the other water ball.

"Ha!" laughed Ayame, "you're not so tough. Those others you fought before must have just been really weak to lost to you!" Ryuga looked up and noticed the girl that had stood behind him disappear into a cloud of smoke.

"_Clone…" _he thought as he got to his feet.

"Maybe I just didn't try my hardest," he replied with a smirk. The speed which had been displayed in his first two matches reappeared, and he was instantly behind Ayame, sword drawn and pressed against the back of her neck. Ayame shivered.

Ryuga laughed. A small stream of blood ran down Ayame's neck. The blade was just touching her skin enough so she bled. She felt mad, extremely mad. _'Beaten in the final match? No way!' _she thought as she grit her teeth, trying to think of a plan.

"You won't beat me," he exclaimed, "and defiantly not in the final round." Suddenly Ryuga

looked up towards the sky. Ayame sensed he was distracted and she managed to escape from the blade of his sword. "Damn," he swore, looking back at his opponent.

"Hah, you got distracted!" Ayame laughed, quite happy he did so. Ayame was instantly ready to fight again, but then Ryuga looked back towards the sky. She wouldn't let this chance slip by, she charged. But Ryuga saw her out of the corner of his eye, and he met her kunai with his sword.

"Sorry," Ryuga stated, "but I'll have to crash this little fight of ours. Bye bye."

"What the hell are you talking about?" as she spoke he ran and scaled the large wall surrounding the arena, and jumped over the top.

"Uh…Ryuga has left the arena, therefore Ayame wins by default!" Anko announced. "Alright then, everybody! That's the end of the chuunin examinations! All the fine genin who have participated this time will be judged and may pass, but the results won't be in for the next week or so! Please stop at our gift shop on the way out, thank you!"

--

"Well I guess that's that. We'll find out in a week," stated Naruto as he, Katya and Ayame walked through Konoha.

"I can't believe that guy just left in the middle of our match!" Ayame exclaimed, "man, it was so much fun until he chickened off!"

"But don't you think it's kind of strange?" Katya asked.

"Damn yeah!"

"I mean, why would he just leave? It _was _the last match of the chuunin exams, I don't suppose I know anyone who would just up and leave half way through," replied Katya.

"No, me either," agreed Naruto. "Well after all that action, who wants to stop by Ichiraku for

some ramen?"

"Sure, I'm kinda hungry," replied Ayame.

"Yeah, let's go," Katya smiled, "but you're paying, Naruto."

"What?"

--

**Damn, I've gotten so lazy with fic writing. I'm terribly sorry, and I'll try to update faster.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29…fresh off the keyboard! **

--

Unwanted

Chapter 29 – Finally Chuunin

--

A week passed, and Naruto awoke, the results of the chuunin examination results on his mind. He dressed quickly, and didn't bother to eat breakfast, and he almost forgot to lock the door behind him.

He dashed through the streets as fast as his legs could carry him. He quickly found it annoying to continuously dodge other people, so he leapt up to the rooftops.

Soon he reached the Hokage Tower, and he entered through the front door. Slightly exhausted, he walked over to the front desk and asked what the results were. The lady replied that Lady Tsunade was going to announce that to the contestants in her office and that she would take him there. Naruto refused, because he knew where the office was.

He knocked on the door, and the voice of Tsunade told him to enter.

"Hi, Lady Tsunade," he said as he entered.

"Good morning, Naruto. I trust you slept well?" she smiled, her chin resting on the tops of her hands. She sat at her desk.

"Not really," he replied, "I kept thinking if I passed or not, and therefore I didn't have the best sleep."

"Sit down," he sat in one of the many chairs that sat before her desk, "and wait."

"Do we have to wait for everyone else to come before I get to know if I passed or not?" inquired Naruto, hoping that wasn't the case. Tsunade nodded.

"Yes."

They then sat and waited, while more people came. Neji and Lee arrived together, then Sasuke came. Temari came after him, then Shino arrived, and Ayame, Katya and Cagalli came at the same time.

"Do you mind if we're here?" inquired Cagalli of Tsunade.

"No, of course not," Tsunade replied.

Finally Gaara came, and right after him Ryuga entered the room.

"I did not come here to know if I passed or not," Ryuga stated as he entered.

"I know," Tsunade replied, "you're already a jounin. Your reasons for entering the chuunin exams, why, I do not know, but I do not care to know. You may leave."

"I did, however, come to see who did pass," he replied, slightly annoyed that she cut him off.

"Fine," she replied then turned away from him. "Alright, now that you are all here, I will announce who passed." Everyone waited patiently as she began to speak.

"For those of you who might have forgotten," Lady Tsunade began, "The matched were as follows: Hyuuga Neji vs. Rock Lee. Temari vs. Kaguya Ayame, Aburame Shino vs. Ryuga, Uzumaki Naruto vs. Uchiha Sasuke, and then Gaara. Those were the first matched. Lee won his match, and Kaguya won hers, Ryuga was victorious over Aburame Shino, and Naruto won against Sasuke. Then was Lee vs. Ayame, and Ayame won, then Ryuga vs. Naruto, Ryuga won that match. Then it was Ryuga vs. Gaara, but Gaara didn't show, and Ryuga won by default. The final match was Kaguya Ayame vs. Ryuga, but Ryuga left the arena and therefore Ayame won by default."

"Why did you leave, anyway?" Ayame demanded of Ryuga. "I would have won fairly if you didn't bugger off!"

"I had to," he replied. "I really don't care if I lost."

"_Anyway,"_ Tsunade coughed, then glared at them. "There are three people who passed this year. Rock Lee, you passed." Lee jumped up in the air and cheered.

"Yes!"

"Also," Tsunade continued, "Uchiha Sasuke passed."

"Way to go, Sasuke!" Ayame smiled at him.

"And finally, Uzumaki Naruto passed," Tsunade rose from her chair. "That is all. You all may leave now."

They all bowed and left her office, and they all walked down to the main entrance. Ryuga instantly disappeared, which annoyed Ayame, because she wanted to get a proper answer out of him.

"Good job, Sasuke!" Ayame told him again as they left the Hokage Tower.

"Thanks," he replied. "Good job passing, Naruto."

"Thanks Sasuke," Sasuke reached his hand out towards Naruto, and Naruto took it and shook his hand. "We made it!" a tear came to Naruto's eyes as he pulled Sasuke towards him and hugged him. "We did it, Sasuke! We're chuunin!"

"Y-Yeah," Sasuke replied, slightly astonished. He hugged Naruto back. "We did make it, baka!" Sasuke rubbed Naruto's head.

"Heeey! Sasuke that hurts!" Naruto jumped away.

"C'mere, ya pansy!" Sasuke chased after him.

"Sasukee!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke jumped on him.

As Ayame, Katayanagi and Cagalli stood and watched, laughing, Rock Lee walked by.

"Hey, Lee!" Ayame ran over to him.

"Yes?"

"Good job passing!" she extended her hand towards him, and he shook it warmly.

"Thank you, Ayame-chan! I greatly appreciate it, even though you did win against me," he replied.

"I don't keep a grudge when someone beats me in a fair match," she smiled.

"That's good," he replied, and they let each others hands go. "I'll see you later, then?"

"Sure!"

Ayame went back to her friends. She had to snicker as she saw Naruto and Sasuke in a pretzel, tickling each other until tears came to their eyes.

"They're so immature," Ayame commented.

"Yeah," agreed Cagalli without a second thought.

Katya smiled as she watched Naruto and Sasuke. _"So he's a chuunin now…I'm so happy." _Suddenly both of them collapsed on the ground, their limbs still tangled. Tears were running down their cheeks, but they were laughing so hard that their faces turned red.

A cool breeze flooded the pathway in front of the Hokage Tower. Other than that, it was silent. Two large smiles replaced Naruto and Sasuke's open laughing mouths, and they were breathing normally and quietly. The three girls stood and watched them; smiles were also on their faces.

Konoha was quiet, tranquil. The village hidden in the leaves was peaceful, with three new chuunin to help take care of it.

--

**Chapter: End.**

**Well that's another one, though it took longer…' **

**Well thanks for reading, and please review!!**


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